Kagome's Baby
by TouchofPixieDust
Summary: There is a new addition to the Inuyasha gang. How will the group react? Can Kagome be a jewel shard hunter AND a mother?
1. Kagome

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter One: Kagome's Baby

"A baby?" Sango asked incredulously. "You are going to have a baby?"

Three sets of male eyes turned towards the pair of girls.

The violet eyes were full of curiosity, and envy. _She's going to have a baby?_ He thought about the children he wanted, and wondered if he would ever have one of his own. _Or a dozen._ His gaze turned towards the demon slayer and softened.

The cinnamon brown eyes teared up. _I'm going to have a brother or sister!_ The kit was excited and began bouncing in joy. His family was growing! His chest puffed up. _I'm going to be a big brother!_ He began thinking of all the things he would like to teach the baby when it was old enough. He couldn't wait!

The golden eyes narrowed dangerously. No coherent thoughts entered his head, only the desire to kill every male in sight. His claws dug into the bark of the fallen tree he was sitting on.

Miroku and Shippo, hearing the snarling and sensing their early demise, wisely decided to scoot away.

Kagome laughed. "Yes, I hope you guys won't mind having it around too much. I know it's going to be a pain with all the crying and the smells. I'll do my best to not be a bother though."

"It will be no problem at all, lady Kagome. We will help you all we can, isn't that right?" Miroku smiled at her warmly.

"Of course we will!" Sango agreed.

"We… I can help…?" Shippo's lip trembled before launching himself at Kagome, tears streaming down his face. "Thank you!"

But before he could land on the confused miko he was snatched out of the air by a surly half dog demon.

Kagome gasped. _Is he GROWLING at me? He is! He's growling at me! Why?_ She blinked rapidly and got a good look at his face. Her heart sped up and pounded furiously. _His eyes are RED!_

"Who is the father, lady Kagome?"

"Shut up, Miroku!" she hissed. Inuyasha was looking pretty scary, and his look towards the monk promised a painful and messy death.

"It would have to be someone from your own era, would it not?" he asked as he looked curiously at her belly.

"Miroku! SHUT UP!"

He made his fatal mistake when he reached to put his hand on her stomach.

Inuyasha lunged.


	2. Electronic Babies

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Two: Electronic Babies

"SIT!"

Inuyasha crashed to the ground before he was able to reach the monk. Miroku gave thanks for the rosary and the command at the same time that Inuyasha cursed it.

Kagome stood in front of Inuyasha with her hands on her hips, ignoring his cursing and growling and scratching at the ground, still trying to get his claws on their friend. Sighing heavily she tried to get her own temper under control. She tried counting to ten. She tried finding her happy place. She tried picturing the empty box. But none of the calming techniques she knew were working. So she yelled.

"WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?"

The eyes he turned on her were filled with anguish. The feelings she saw there were so raw that Kagome had to take a step back. _Why is he looking at me like I just betrayed him?_ Something in the pit of her stomach clenched. She wanted to apologize, to do whatever it took to take that look out of his eyes. It actually hurt her heart to look at him, so she looked away.

"Aren't you going to answer the monk, wench?" Venom filled his voice as he struggled against the spell.

"Huh?"

He snarled at her. "Who. Is. The. Father?"

Sango's burst of laughter rang throughout the forest. She was laughing so hard that she fell off the stump she was sitting on and was clutching her sides. Finally she sat back up, tears streaming down her face. Every time it looked like she might be finished, she started howling in laughter again. It was really ticking Inuyasha off.

The spell wore off, but the hanyou stayed where he was. He was torn between leaving the whole bunch of them forever and taking Kagome, hunting down the man who got her pregnant, kill him… no, torture him first THEN kill him, and…

"Oh for the love of… what is WRONG with you Sango?" Her insane laughter was seriously impeding with his murderous train of thought.

"How much of our conversation did you idiots hear?" she asked while trying to catch her breath, hiccupping loudly.

Inuyasha looked at Kagome, then at Miroku. Finally he looked back at Sango, who started in on a whole new set of giggles. It was really _really_ strange seeing the demon slayer giggle. Unnerving really.

"We heard you say Kagome was going to have a baby," answered Shippo, who suddenly appeared on the miko's shoulder.

Sango snorted and started laughing again, this time Kagome joined her. The sound echoed through the forest.

The boys looked at them like they were crazy. Shippo hopped down from Kagome's shoulder and went to go sit on Inuyasha's knee now that he was no longer a raging blood thirsty demon.

"I believe we missed something."

"Oh, ya think, monk?"

Kagome sighed as her laughter subsided and looked at the boys in front of her, all waiting for an explanation. She gave them a smile.

"I was telling Sango about a class project that I have to do for Health class. It's a parenting class."

"They have classes on how to be a parent?"

"Sort of, Shippo. It teaches you some basic stuff, like how to take care of a baby, and how much work it is to take care of a baby. I think it's to discourage… um… having babies while you are young. We learn about that other stuff too." Kagome winked at Sango, who blushed.

"What other stuff?" Shippo asked.

It was Kagome's turn to blush. She cleared her throat a couple of times before trying to explain things to the kit. She wasn't really prepared to discuss the birds and the bees with her adopted son. It was embarrassing enough to have to have it explained to her. Nervously she straightened out the non-existent wrinkles in her skirt.

"Uh… well, we learn about how to have babies and um… how they are made."

Miroku opened his mouth to add his thoughts to the conversation, but was quickly knocked out by Sango before a single word could escape. It was probably a good thing, since the beating he would have gotten from the dog demon may have done some rather permanent damage to his anatomy.

"WHAT DO THEY TEACH YOU AT THAT SCHOOL?" Inuyasha roared as he jumped to his feet. "You can't go back there! EVER! Buncha perverts!" With clenched fists he marched past the group, preparing to leap into the trees. He crouched down, muscles tensing, but Kagome's voice stopped him momentarily.

"Where are you going?" she asked, half afraid of what the answer was. He turned and glared at her, looking very much like a demon at that moment. It almost surprised her that his eyes weren't red and his face wasn't sporting the marks of him turning into a full demon. But everything else about his body language was screaming that he was a very dangerous demon at that moment.

"To destroy the well!" he snarled. "You are NOT going back THERE!" He practically flew from the ground into the air.

"Sit boy!"

Luckily he hadn't gone far off the ground to do any serious damage when he fell. Kagome tried to look fierce as she stood above Inuyasha, but the disgruntled look he gave her just tickled her. The horrified expression on his face when she told him about learning about babies just made her day. If young impressionable Shippo hadn't been there, she would have been mightily tempted to go into more details just to see that cute shade of red her hanyou would turn.

"You're being unreasonable, Inuyasha." She sat beside him as he struggled against the spell, fighting the constant temptation to pet his ears. "You can't destroy the well."

"You CAN'T go back to that school, Kagome," he growled. "I won't let you!"

She sighed. "There is nothing wrong with learning about se…"

"ACK! DON'T SAY IT!"

"Would you rather I learn it from Miroku?"

The monk was startled when his name was mentioned. With his most sincere smile he was about to comment on how he would love to give Kagome lessons any time when the murderous look from the hanyou two seconds from being released from the spell changed his mind.

"Leave me out of this!" he squeaked and backed up a few paces, much to the amusement of a certain demon slayer.

"Or someone like Miroku?" Inuyasha turned that glare onto the schoolgirl. "There are lots of boys like that at school, you know. Sometimes they tell girls things, either on purpose or because they don't know the facts themselves. And sometimes girls end up getting pregnant and don't even know how it happened!" His eyes narrowed to slits, and Kagome realized she wasn't making a very good case for not destroying the well. "Um… and here too, not just my time! Take Miroku for example…"

"LEAVE ME OUT OF THIS!"

The dog demons movements stilled. No longer was he struggling against the spell. Now he was contemplating something… and that quiet thoughtfulness was beginning to scare the wits out of the group of travelers, especially the miko and the monk.

"Um… so, uh… isn't it better…" Kagome looked at Sango, who snickered at her, for help. "So isn't it better that I learn all I can so I know the facts and can keep… you know… keep anything from happening that… uh… it's better to be prepared… and uh… could you stop looking at me like that? You are starting to kinda scare me a bit."

Inuyasha sat up slowly, tucked his hands into his sleeves, and continuing to stare at Kagome, glowering really.

Eventually he spoke, his voice still angry. "Do they just give you a baby?"

Kagome smiled in relief. He wasn't going to destroy the well after all. At least, not yet. "Well, not a real baby. It's a baby with a computer chip in it."

"Is that like the potato chips you bring us?"

"No, Shippo. It's… well, it's difficult to explain." She scratched her head. How does one explain computer chips to people from the Feudal Era? "It's kind of like a very tiny computer that is inside of a plastic baby. It will make the baby cry and dirty its diapers. It will also record what I do when that happens. So if I pick up the baby I have to press a certain button and the computer knows I did something to stop the crying. If the diapers need changing, I have to change them, the computer will know if they are wet. If I don't do these things, the computer will know it, and the teacher will know that I've been neglecting the baby."

Shippo, Sango, and Miroku looked at her like she had been speaking another language. To them she probably was.

"A computer like the one on your desk?" asked Inuyasha. When she sighed with relief and said yes he turned a cocky grin to the others. "It's a magic box."

"Oohhhhh."

Kagome shrugged. It was a close enough explanation. Relieved that her homework and her way home had been saved, she stood up and brushed the dirt off of her skirt. She reached down to help Inuyasha up, but he ignored her hand and stood up on his own, although she didn't miss the tinge of pink in his cheeks.

"So, you have to care for it as you would a real child?"

"Yes, Sango, I do. I'm supposed to give it a name and everything. Plus I have to keep a journal every day."

"How long do you get to keep the baby?" asked Shippo. It wasn't as good as a real brother or sister, but everything Kagome brought back with her was interesting. And if Kagome got to practice at being a mommy, then it meant that he would get a chance at practicing being a big brother.

Kagome grimaced. "A whole month. I'm really sorry about this, guys. I know that it is really going to be a pain. But I'll try really hard to not inconvenience everyone. I just have to get an A on this project or they will fail me." She gave Inuyasha a pointed glare. "And that would mean that I would have to do the WHOLE school year ALL OVER again. And NO ONE wants THAT to HAPPEN."

"Do not worry, lady Kagome. We are always ready to help you with… anything…" The suggestiveness in that comment got him a whack on the head from Inuyasha and one from Sango. Kagome just rolled her eyes.

As the group began to journey back to Kaede's village, Kagome walked behind them slowly. The project made her nervous. It wasn't just a regular assignment. This was going to see how good of a mother she was. What if she failed?

"Oi, wench! Hurry up!"

Kagome glanced up at Inuyasha, who was waiting for her impatiently. She gave him a little smile and walked a little faster. Quickly she fell into step beside her favorite dog demon.

"What's wrong?"

Her feet stopped moving. Had Inuyasha actually asked her what was wrong? She looked up at him. He looked concerned, and a little irritated. When she started to shake her head 'no' he glared at her. So she sighed. She never could successfully lie to him.

"I'm worried about the project."

"Keh. Don't lie to me. It's more than that."

Kagome was curious. "How do you know that?"

His cheeks were back to being pink. "I just do. Quit moping around and tell me what's wrong. And hurry it up."

Sigh. "I'm worried… that if I fail this project… well…"

"Spill it!"

"Alright, stupid! I'm worried I'll fail as a mother!" She glared at him. Then she realized what she said and embarrassed. Sure it was true, but she really hadn't planned on confiding that little fear to him. He already thought she was weak enough as it was. Adding her insecurities for something far off into the future like that would make her seem even weaker. _Where oh where are my time traveling abilities when I really need them? _

"Idiot." He said softly without looking at her. "Of course you'll be a good mother."

"How do you know," she asked skeptically, noticing that they seemed to be pulling farther behind the group.

"Keh."

"That's not a reason."

Inuyasha finally looked at her and they stopped walking. "I just know it. Besides, look at the great job you do with Shippo."

Kagome smiled a little sadly. It was really actually very sweet of Inuyasha to try to erase her fears. Too bad it wasn't true. "We all take care of Shippo. We all protect him and provide for him."

"But you are the one who mothers him."

From up ahead Shippo turns towards them and waves. Kagome waves back with a smile on her face. He honestly did look like a child waving to his mother. Maybe… just maybe… she might not fail after all.


	3. A New Addition

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Three: A New Addition

Day One –

Today my family was blessed with a new addition. Her name is Mikomi. My family and I spent a good deal of time naming the new baby. 

_Talk about an understatement._ Kagome puts down her pen and rubs her already aching head. Naming the baby had practically started a war within the little group. Heck, it was a battle just determining the gender.

"Higurashi!"

Kagome stood up and walked to the front of the class. The teacher checked her name off of a list and handed her an object wrapped in a light violet blanket. Kagome took the object and looked down with a smile. It was so cute! It was also kinda heavy. It weighed about twelve pounds. Twelve pounds may not seem like much, but for something so small it was a lot.

After all of that time dreading the project, now that she was holding the little thing in her arms, she was starting to look forward to it. She wondered how her friends in the Feudal Era would react to it.

The rest of the class period went achingly so. Luckily it was the last class of the day. When the last bell rang, Kagome picked up the genderless baby and walked out of the school. It was surprisingly realistic looking and even the skin felt soft like a real baby's. From a distance, it looked like very real. She looked around at her other classmates. Many of them had babies in their arms too. Some had blue blankets, some had pink, some had yellow, and some had white with little ducks or sailboats on them.

Many of the students carried the babies similar to the way Kagome carried hers, cradled in her arms like an infant. Others had made makeshift carries for them. There were also a few who didn't seem too terribly concerned about their grades and had stuffed their babies into their backpacks.

The school girl had been more than a little surprised to find Inuyasha waiting for her by a tree just outside of the schoolyard with a blue cap on his head. Even though his glares had scared off her friends, she couldn't help but giggle.

"Hi, Inuyasha!"

"Keh."

She grinned. "Have you come to walk us home?"

"Keh."

She had been tickled to watch as he tried to not look curious at the bundle in her arms. He wasn't fooling anyone though, well, at least not Kagome. Finally she stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and turned to the dog demon.

"Would you like to see?"

"Keh," he scoffed, "Like I care." But he peeked at the baby anyhow, though he was unwilling to actually touch the blanket or the plastic infant. There was something about his curiosity and… was that fear?... of the baby that warmed Kagome's heart.

Inuyasha sneezed.

He hated all the smells of this time. There were so many strong smells that it was difficult picking up the important ones. And the one he was searching for right now was faint and in danger of being overpowered. He closed his eyes and sorted through the smells until he found the one he was looking for.

Quickly he jumped to the second floor of the building and peeked inside of the window of Kagome's classroom. He was careful to not be seen. Last time she saw him watching her through the classroom window she had sat him. It was a long way down and hitting the concrete was a lot harder than hitting packed dirt. He had no desire to make that plunge again.

Kagome sat near the back of the classroom. He didn't like the looks some of the other students were giving her. He also didn't like some of the whispered conversations a few of the girls were having about her a few rows over. They were whispering about how unusually well Kagome looks for someone who is out sick all the time. They were whispering about how she was probably just skipping school to go hang out at a thing called a MAWL. Then they speculated on other things that Kagome may have been doing while skipping school. A blushing Inuyasha wondered how many times he would be sat if the shredded those girls. Well… if Kagome never found out about it…. And even if she did, maybe if he explained…. No. He didn't want Kagome finding out what those girls were saying about her. Even if he didn't understand everything they were saying, he was certain it would do nothing but embarrass and hurt Kagome.

"Higurashi!"

Kagome stood up and walked to the front of the class. Inuyasha frowned at the pairs of eyes that were watching her. One inparticular found Kagome a bit too interesting as she walked down the aisle. The boy had a vaguely familiar smell. Inuyasha inhaled, trying to remember who this boy was.

Ah. Now he remembered. Inuyasha growled at the memory of the boy. It wasn't too long ago that the boy was with Kagome… though at the time he was calling her something else and was being entirely too familiar with her. That had been the day when Kagome was in something she called a PLAY.

Before the dog demon could snatch the boy out of the window and drop him onto the pavement below, he saw Kagome reach out and take the small purple bundle.

It looked like…a baby!

His mouth was slightly ajar as he saw her look down at it and smile. She looked like a mother with her pup…

When she turned around to go back to her seat, Inuyasha jumped back to the ground. The loud bell would be going off soon, and he wanted to be far away when that happened.

Within moments he was at the tree where he usually sat to watch Kagome leave the building. The image of Kagome holding the baby wouldn't leave his mind. There was something about it that was disturbing… and interesting…

The irritatingly loud bell rang, and soon a flood of students poured from the building. He relaxed a bit when he saw Kagome finally exit. She was still holding the baby. His heart flip flopped and he scowled at the feeling. Hiding behind the tree he watched as she looked down at the baby again. _This is what she will look like holding her own baby._

That same young man from her class approached the girl, intent on looking at the baby she was holding. The snarl that ripped from his throat caught the young man by surprise. Nervously the boy said his good-byes and left Kagome alone.

Certain that he was going to be sat, Inuyasha looked away. He wasn't expecting Kagome's soft giggle.

"Hi, Inuyasha!"

Embarrassed at being caught, all he could say was, "Keh."

She was smiling at him. "Have you come to walk us home?"

"Keh."

"Would you like to see?"

"Keh," he scoffed, "Like I care." But he decided to peek at the baby anyhow. The thing looked too delicate to touch. He thought about his claws and about how easily it would be to break it. And he was certain that if he broke this thing, that Kagome may never forgive him.

It looked real, but it didn't smell real.

"It's a girl!" Kagome insisted.

"It's a boy!"

"No it's not, Inuyasha. It's a girl!" She peeled off the violet blanket and the diapers from the baby, much to Inuyasha's horror. Shippo however, took a peek.

"I think she's right, Inuyasha. I think it's a girl."

Sango looked over Shippo at the doll. "I don't know, Shippo. It doesn't really seem to have the right… parts to be a girl."

"It doesn't have the right parts to be a boy either," Miroku countered, looking over Kagome's shoulder. He didn't get a chance to look long before he was physically removed from touching distance of the young miko by an angry hanyou. Miroku gave him his most innocent smile.

"I think it's supposed to not be specifically either one… so you can decide which one you want it to be."

"You can't decide the se… the se… you can't decide if a baby is going to be a girl or a boy, Kagome!"

She couldn't help but find his inability to say the word 'sex' to be anything but hilarious. Sure he could swear with the most colorfully foul words with the greatest of ease, but this one little three letter word had him stammering and turning red. It really was charming.

"Sure you can."

The look he gave her clearly indicated that she was not using all of her mental facilities. Though likely he was just calling her 'stupid'.

"With today's medical technology, people can now decide if they want to have a boy or a girl. It is expensive though."

"How is that possible?" asked Sango.

Kagome smiled. "Well, I don't know all the specifics. But I do know that they take a woman's egg from her body, and the man's…"

"Egg? Like a bird?"

"Um… not exactly, Shippo…"

"Then what kind of egg?"

_Whooo boy._ She could already feel herself turning red. "Well… when a woman is ready to have a baby, her body releases this…egg. It's very very tiny."

"Does it come out like a bird's?"

"Umm… no. Look, maybe you should have this discussion with Inuyasha a little bit later. I bet he can explain things to you."

A short bark of laughter was heard from above. She looked up. Inuyasha had found a comfy spot in the tree to rest. He looked amused, but not very helpful. He didn't have to use words to tell her that no way on earth was he going to be explaining the facts of life to the kit.

"Or Miroku…"

The monk smiled benevolently at the young kit. "Come, Shippo, and I will endeavor to explain to you the wonders of a woman's…"

"NEVER MIND!" Kagome's eyes were wide and panicked.

"Maybe we should decide if we want it to be a girl or a boy," Sango said, coming to Kagome's rescue.

The girl sighed with relief. She had been spared. "That would be a great idea."

"I think it should be a girl."

"I think it should be a boy," Sango said, glaring mildly at Miroku.

He rolled his eyes at her. "How can you possibly think that I would be thinking anything along THOSE lines about a BABY? You wound me, Sango."

"I didn't SAY anything, lecher!"

He gave her a hard look. "Your tone of voice clearly indicated your thoughts."

"I don't care if it's a brother or a sister," interrupted Shippo, looking down at the baby again. He was smiling at it, touching its nose gently with his finger. Kagome looked down at him sadly before pulling the young fox demon into her arms and kissing the top of his fuzzy head. He looked up at her with a grin before looking eagerly back down at the baby.

"What about you, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, tilting her head up to see him directly above her. _Always the watch do,_ she thought fondly.

"Keh. Don't care. It's your baby, you decide."

Kagome thought about it. Like Shippo, she didn't necessarily have a preference to if she wanted a son or a daughter. Whatever she was given she would love dearly. She looked at the baby doll closely. They were right, it didn't have the features for either a boy or a girl. But… it did look closer to being a girl…

"She's a baby girl then," Kagome finally announced. She hoped Sango wouldn't be too disappointed in her choice. She glanced at her friend, and breathed a sigh of relief when the demon slayer gave her a nod of approval.

"What's her name?" asked Shippo.

She scratched her head. "We'll just think of a name together. What do you guys want to name her?"

The camp was quiet as the group thought about a name. Kagome sat the baby down, letting Shippo hold it, as she prepared a dinner of ramen. She boiled the water, poured it into the little containers, and counted under her breath for three minutes until they were ready to be eaten. She gave everyone their containers, then took her spot next to Shippo and the baby. Before she had completely settled into eating position Inuyasha was seated next to her gulping down his ramen.

"Suki."

Kagome turned to look at Shippo. "What was that?"

"Maybe we could name her Suki. It means love."

"That's a sweet name, and very thoughtful too."

"How about we name her Toutoi."

Kagome thought about that name. It meant 'precious'. "That's a good name too, Sango." She turned to Miroku. "Do you have a name picked out?"

Miroku thought about it for a moment. "I like the name Saiai. After all, any daughter of yours will be 'beloved', so the name would fit perfectly."

"Saiai… that's nice." She turned to the dog demon. "What do you think, Inuyasha?"

"Keh, I think you are all choosing sissy wimpy names. She needs a name that means strength… and power. She needs a strong name. Like… like… Chikara."

"Chikara is not the name for a baby girl, Inuyasha!" scolded Sango. "A baby is a precious thing, something to be loved and cherished. She needs a name to reflect that. She's a baby, not a warrior!"

"I don't want her to grow up weak and defensless! She needs a strong name so she will grow up powerful and strong!"

"But she is just a baby, Inuyasha," Miroku tried to reason. "She needs to know that she is loved and will always be loved. Having a name like Saiai, or even Suki or Toutoi will remind her of that."

Kagome watched as her friends argued. Soon the arguing escalated into a full blown shouting match. It wouldn't surprise her if soon they would come to blows. What did surprise her, however, was how adamant that her friends were about the names. And this was the name of a baby that wasn't even real! She sighed heavily. Finding a name shouldn't be this hard should it?

Suddenly the baby began to cry. Shippo looked up at her, not knowing what to do. Kagome picked up the baby and rocked it gently. The electronic mechanism registered this, and the baby began to quiet back down.

"My momma used to do that for me," whispered Shippo, watching both Kagome and the baby closely.

The arguing ended with the cry of the baby. They watched as Kagome rocked the child. She looked up at her friends. They were still angry with each other. Why were they taking the naming of the baby so seriously? Surely they had to remember that it wasn't really a real child. It was plastic with electronics, or, as they believed, magic inside of it.

But something told her that now would not be the time to remind them. After all, she was getting a rare insight on her friends. They didn't often talk about family, or about the future beyond finding and killing Naraku.

Suki. Love. Kagome looked at Shippo. He was still watching as she rocked the baby. He was fascinated with it. Then she noticed the look in his pretty green eyes. He wanted a brother or sister, he really really wanted one. At first Kagome had brushed off his comments, but now… now she knew that he really did want a brother or sister. He wanted to be part of a family again. He wanted more than just that. He wanted to belong, he wanted love.

Toutoi. Precious. Kagome looked across the fire at Sango. The demon exterminator was looking at the baby in her arms with sadness and longing. Did Sango dream of having a family of her own? It was no secret that Miroku wanted a child, but Kagome hadn't thought about what Sango might want. A baby wouldn't replace the family she had lost, but… but it would be a family of her own. And wasn't Sango past the age of when young women in this time found a husband and started having children and raising families? Sango had seen so much death and pain. A child's life must indeed seem precious to her.

Saiai. Beloved. The name had come so quickly from the monk, and so seriously. It was no secret that he wanted a child, an heir. Kagome always thought he wanted a child so that he would have someone to continue the fight against Naraku should he be consumed by the wind tunnel in his hand. The name he chose had nothing to do with revenge, it had to do with loving, with cherishing. Maybe a baby means more to him than simply an heir. After all, Miroku had no family of his own anymore either. Perhaps he wants something in his life that would be his beloved.

Chikara. Strength. Power. Yes, Kagome could see how those would be important characteristics to Inuyasha for his children. He had to survive by being strong. He couldn't be weak. If you showed weakness you died, it was as simple as that. And he wanted his daughter to be strong. Kagome had been surprised at how he fought for the name. She would have thought that he would give them a 'keh' or a 'feh' and hop into his tree to ignore them. But he didn't. He was actually fighting for the name. It was actually important to him.

Each of them felt so strongly about the names that they had chosen. How in the world would she choose? Choosing one of them would be like choosing one friend over another. And that just wasn't possible.

She could use all of the names. But Chikara Suki Toutoi Saiai Higurashi was such a very long name. Maybe there was some sort of compromise. What was it that they all saw in this child? Love. Strength. Precious. The future. A new life. A new start. Hope? Yes. Hope.

"What about…Mikomi?" Kagome asked. "It means hope."

The arguing ceased, and each member of the group thought about the name and the meaning.

"I like it."

Kagome smiled. "Thanks, Shippo."

"I like it too," smiled Sango. She called to Kirara, who was napping nearby, and held her in her arms. "I think that it is very fitting."

"I agree."

"Feh." Inuyasha jumped back up into the tree. But Kagome knew that he was agreeing with the others.

"Mikomi Higurashi, say hello to your family."

Mikomi began to wail.

What I Have Learned –

There is more to naming a child than simply picking a pretty name. When you involve an entire family in the process, you find out what kind of things are important to them. I learned a lot about the people I care about today. 

It is also difficult, if not impossible, to get everyone to agree. Sometimes the best you can hope for is to find something that everyone can live with.

The baby cried a lot until we finally figured out how to work the buttons to make her stop. I also learned that sometimes you have to try more than one thing. Just picking up and rocking the baby doesn't always work. Sometimes you have to try feeding it even if it isn't feeding time or singing to it or burping it or checking the diapers.

I wish that you had included a guide to deciphering what the heck it is that a baby wants when it cries. It would make life a whole lot easier.

Kagome Higurashi


	4. The Morning After

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Four: The Morning After

Day Two –

Today I learned a whole new meaning for the word 'tired'. The baby cried once every hour or so last night. I don't think I got any sleep at all. My head feels fuzzy and is beginning to hurt.

I'm beginning to seriously doubt my capabilities as a mother, and it is only the second day! 

Kagome yawned. Would they be able to survive having a baby with them? At first it hadn't seemed like a big deal. But now she wasn't so sure.

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Mikomi spent a good deal of the night crying and it was eerily realistic sounding. Kagome tried everything that she could think of… feeding, playing, singing, changing diapers, burping, and rubbing it's back. Eventually the baby quieted down, but only for about an hour. Then it was time to start wailing again. Around four in the morning Kagome began wondering if perhaps she had been given a defective baby. Maybe it was missing a vital microchip that enabled the thing to sleep.

Needless to say, everyone was a bit tired and grumpy by the time the sun rose.

"It is certainly a… vocal child." Miroku grumbled as he stood up and stretched. "I think I will go wash up before breakfast."

"I'll go with you!" Sango volunteered a wee bit too quickly as she followed him out of the clearing.

Kagome wasn't fooled. They just wanted far away from the noisy baby. Then again, if she thought she could get away with it, she would be dashing off as well. _But what kind of mother would that make me?_

"Some mother you are," Inuyasha scoffed from the tree up above her. "You let that thing cry all night."

Her fingers froze as she was lifting the electronic baby into her arms. _Did he just call me a bad mother?_ She glared at him as she hugged the child close.

"What. Did. You. Say?"

Shippo squeaked and ran off after Sango and Miroku, followed closely by Kirara.

Unfazed by the fire seemingly emitting from the young miko, Inuyasha dropped down in front of her.

"I said that you let Mikomi cry all night."

"I didn't LET Mikomi cry, you idiot!"

"You didn't stop her!"

"I TRIED!"

"THEN YOU DIDN'T DO A GOOD ENOUGH JOB!"

The fire in her eyes died, replaced by an onslaught of tears that made Inuyasha jump backwards in fear and confusion.

"I know…" she sniffed, dropping her head down. "I know I'm a bad mother! You don't have to rub it in!"

She shoved Mikomi into his arms and took off running. When she reached the stream she dropped to her knees and sobbed. _I should have known I wouldn't be a good mother. I should have known… I can't do this!_

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Inuyasha stared blankly down at the bundle in his arms. _What just happened? _One second they were having their usual morning fight, the next second she bursts into tears, shoves the kid at him, and takes off. Inuyasha replayed the conversation in his head, but couldn't figure out what in the world he could have said that would make her respond like that. _Why would she say that she's a bad mother?_

Tucking the plastic baby in the front of his fire rat robe, he took off after his companion. His sensitive nose led the way.

It only took a couple of minutes to find her. His heart lurched as he saw her sobbing at the edge of the stream. Her knees were drawn up with her arms wrapped around them. Her head was tucked down between her arms. She was taking up as little space as humanly possible and she was rocking herself back and forth slowly.

Nervously the dog demon sat beside her, taking out the baby from his robes. It began to bawl, which made Kagome cry harder. He didn't know what to do. Whenever Kagome cried he felt completely useless. It was so much easier to slaughter an enemy that was threatening her, but how do you protect a girl against something you couldn't see, like emotions? It made him feel like he was failing her somehow. It made him feel guilty.

"You're not a bad mother," he told her as he patted the electronic baby awkwardly, like he had seen Kagome do many times over the past two days. "Why would you say something stupid like that?"

"You said it."

Inuyasha's jaw dropped open. "I DID NOT!"

Glaring she turned her head towards him. "YES YOU DID! You said I wasn't doing a good enough job being a mother to Mikomi!"

"I SAID that you weren't doing a good enough job of shutting the kid up!"

"Same thing!"

"IT IS NOT!" He glared at her. "Keh, you are stupid." The baby did not stop crying, so he started bouncing her instead.

A soft sound caught his attention. He turned to find Kagome smiling at him, looking amused and trying to stifle another giggle. When he realized that she was watching him trying to quiet the baby he blushed and shoved the baby into Kagome's arms. He hated it when she caught him doing something stupid and embarrassing. He hated when she saw weakness. Sure, she never said it was a weakness, but he knew. And he couldn't afford to be weak. Not with Naraku still out there. Not with this pack of his he had to protect. And definitely not with that stupid wolf out there trying to steal Kagome from him.

From the corner of his eye he watched Kagome hug the baby. The tears had dried _(thank the stars above)_ and the sniffles had stopped. With a sigh she leaned against his shoulder, wiping her eyes on his fire rat robe.

"You don't think I'm a bad mother?"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Kagome, you've had that baby for two days. TWO! You're stupid if you think you are going to be perfect after two days. Look how long it took you to learn how to shoot an arrow, and that is a whole lot easier than being a mother."

"Sooo… you're saying I am a bad mother… but with practice I could be a good one?"

Sigh. "I'm not saying you're a bad mother. Stop saying that I said that! It's a lie!" He pushed her away from him and stood up. "Let's get back to camp. We need to keep moving if we are ever going to kill Naraku, wench."

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"Shippo… can you ride with Sango or Inuyasha?" Kagome asked softly. "Carrying you and the baby and the pack is… well…. It's just that…"

"Get off Kagome, brat! She's just a weak human."

"Gee, thanks Inuyasha. Helpful AND insulting." All the same, she was glad to have the extra weight off of her shoulders.

Shippo apologized to Kagome before insulting Inuyasha. Kagome apologized to Shippo for not being able to carry him too. Then she gave him candy. She watched as he bit his lip, looking from the candy to the baby in her arms.

"No thanks, Kagome." Then he scampered off to Sango.

The group was surprised that Shippo turned the candy down. And it wasn't just any old candy either. It was pocky! His favorite. Shippo never turned down candy.

Kagome worried about hurting Shippo's feelings. But the extra weight was killing her. Her back felt like it was on fire. Ever few feet she would try to stretch it out without anyone noticing. After about an hour, Inuyasha took her pack from her without a word. She was grateful.

Unfortunately, carrying the baby was still a problem. Besides the fact that carrying the extra weight in her arms caused her arms to ache and stiffen up, it also made her back hurt. It was different carrying weight in the front than carrying weight from a backpack. To make matters worse, having the baby in her arms meant that her arms were no longer free to do such things as help her keep her balance when walking across stones in a river or brushes branches out of her way. At least the baby wasn't programmed to be squirmy and wiggly, that would have made matters even worse!

By the time the group stopped for lunch, Kagome was ready to burst into tears again. She set the baby in Shippo's arms after he sat down, then she stood up and stretched her arms high over her head. She leaned from one side to the other, trying to stretch out her back to relieve the pain.

"Um... Kagome…"

"Yes, Sango?"

Sango blushed. "Perhaps you should take a short walk down to the river, beyond the cover of trees, to do that…"

At first Kagome didn't know what in the world she was talking about, then she noticed Miroku's eyes following the hem of her shirt. Then she saw the exact moment when Inuyasha noticed what Miroku had been looking at.

Poor Miroku.

"Perhaps we need to find a different way for you to carry the baby," suggested Sango as she sat down on the grass, ignoring the cries of the monk when the hanyou added a few more bumps to his head.

Kagome took her bag from where Inuyasha dropped it and began pulling out bags of potato chips and nutrition bars. "That's a good idea Sango. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Where's the ramen?" asked Inuyasha when he was handed a nutrition bar.

"That's for dinner."

"I want ramen!"

"Tough luck! You would have to make a fire to boil the water for the ramen. And since you are in such an all fire hurry to get moving, then we don't have TIME to stop for ramen!"

Grumpily Inuyasha jumped into a tree, leaving the bar on the ground, but taking his potato chips… and Kagome's.

Sigh. "Do you have any ideas on carrying the baby?"

"Just stuff it in your sack."

Kagome glared. "Yeah, great suggestion Inuyasha. I'm going to stuff the child into a backpack where it can't breathe and gets stuff falling on it."

"I thought the child was not real," said Sango as she opened the package to the bar and began to eat. "Can it breathe?"

Kagome blushed. _Oh yeah, _she mentally smacked herself in the head for allowing herself to forget it was just a doll._ A technologically advanced marvel of a doll, but still just a doll._ "No, it can't breathe. But the sensors in the doll can tell if there is enough air circulating around it. And it can tell if things fall on it. Besides, it just seems wrong to stick it in my backpack. I'm supposed to be treating it as if it was my real baby."

"Fascinating," Miroku comments as he regains consciousness. Luckily for him he didn't say it sarcastically. Kagome gave him a smile. Sometimes it was easy to forget just how different their worlds were from each other.

"I could carry her," offers Shippo. "She's not that heavy. I'll do it!"

Kagome smiled gently as she opened up his package of food for him. "Thank you, Shippo. That is a very sweet offer, but I'm afraid that even though she's not heavy now, she'll seem very VERY heavy after a little while."

He thought about it for a moment. "We could take turns."

"Well… I suppose we could."

"I'll take a turn carrying her too."

Kagome beamed at Sango. "Thank you! That will be a huge help."

Miroku put his hand on Kagome's shoulder. "You can count on my help as well. I would not mind taking a turn holding the baby."

Before Kagome could say thank you, she was ripped away from the monk and found herself facing a wall of red fabric. She rolled her eyes. _When is Inuyasha ever going to trust Miroku around me? _After all, these days he never touched a woman other than Sango. And any flirting he did really couldn't be taken seriously. Anyone could see that the demon slayer was the only one he was interested in. Well, anyone except that demon slayer… and apparently a half dog demon…

"Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it!"

It was the absolute truth too. She really did appreciate it. If she didn't have her friends to help her through this, there would be no way she could do it. How were other kids going to make it when they had to take care of their electronic babies alone? Of course, most of the other kids weren't traipsing around Feudal Japan fighting demons.

"Can I carry her first?" Shippo asked, scarfing down his food then holding his hands out for the baby. When Kagome gave her to him he sat down and opened a jar and found the little plastic spoon.

"Sure." Kagome watched as Shippo fed the electronic baby the special food that was supplied for it. He was really enjoying this.

Lunch was over quickly. Kagome picked up the wrappers and put them in her bag. She took the bag and put it on before Inuyasha could reach it. It wasn't fair to make him carry it all the time. And now that Shippo was taking a turn at carrying the baby, it would make things a lot easier.

Except it wasn't going so well for Shippo. The baby wasn't all that much smaller than he was. But he didn't drop her. It was awkward, but he was taking carrying her very seriously. Kagome was worried about her being dropped, but she didn't want to take her away from Shippo. How could she make it easier for him without hurting his pride? What they really needed was a stroller.

"Oi, brat! You're gonna drop her!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"AM NOT!"

Suddenly the kit was engulfed in red fabric. It was the fire rat robe. "What's this for?"

Without an explanation, Inuyasha took the baby away from Shippo and put it on the fabric. Even though Kagome was watching, her eyes couldn't keep up with his movements. Before she knew it, Shippo was standing there with Mikomi strapped to his back in a comfortable looking cocoon.

A very proud Shippo began walking again behind Sango and Miroku. Kagome stayed where she was, looking at Inuyasha incredulously.

"You're amazing," she whispered. Only when she saw him turn red and started heading towards the front of the pack did she realize that she actually say that out loud. At first she was embarrassed that he caught her complimenting him. Then she shrugged and smiled. _Sure he has a big head… but he really IS amazing. I guess it wouldn't hurt to let him know once in awhile._

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Babies require a whole lot more than just feeding and playing. Finding a way to carry the baby was a bigger deal than I anticipated. Carrying Mikomi around in my arms all day just wasn't an option.

I have also found that sometimes you can get the baby to make a cute cooing sound when you rock it. It's cute!

It's only been two days and I'm already beginning to feel like a mother. I think that I can do this! I can't wait to have a child of my own someday.

Kagome Higurashi


	5. Abandonment

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Five: Abandonment

Day Five –

If I don't get any sleep soon, I think I might just die. Seriously, I'm not kidding. I'll be dead. D.E.A.D. And it will be YOUR fault. 

Every night… every SINGLE night the baby cries and cries. She never lets me sleep for more than two hours at a time. Don't people go insane from lack of sleep? Is this some warped experiment to make the students crazy? If we stay sane do we pass? 

I really need sleep.

Kagome lifted tired eyes to her paper. Her head was throbbing painfully. She just knew that this was some sort of plot against the students. How did people survive to have more than one child? How did they have the energy? It didn't seem humanly possible.

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Crying was heard throughout the campsite.

Not that crying was exactly an unfamiliar thing these days, oh no. After all, Mikomi cried every single solitary night. Sometimes for over an hour at a time. This time, however, it was the miko, and not Mikomi, that was doing the crying. Unfortunately, that also wasn't an unfamiliar sight over the past few days.

"I can't do this," she sobbed as the baby in her arms cooed cutely. No one would think that this cute little thing would turn into a screaming banshee during the night. And so far no one found a volume control either. "I need sleep." She gave a slightly insane laugh that frightened her friends a little before she cried again.

Lack of a good night's sleep was making everyone a little irritable. The night before last they had stayed at an inn. Sango actually volunteered to stay in Miroku's room with Kirara, Inuyasha (who rudely declined) and Shippo so that Kagome could have a little privacy. She wasn't fooling anyone, though. Really she just wanted to sleep without having to hear that banshee baby cry all night long.

"I wanna stay with Mikomi!" Shippo had cried. It had taken some convincing to get the tired kit to stay with Sango, and in the end he agreed. Well, not really agreed. He had fallen asleep in the middle of the argument.

The innkeeper had been too curious about the odd crying baby, so Kagome ended up taking her outside and camping out with Inuyasha keeping guard. It was one thing explaining the marvels of modern technologies to her friends, but it was something else entirely trying to explain it to a stranger. That's when she realized that she was going to have to be extra careful with Mikomi around strangers. They were more likely to see it as a demon than anything else.

There was no inn for her friends to stay in last night, so once again they had to listen to the constant wails on the electronic baby. Kagome had been apologetic in the morning as she attempted to make breakfast. But her eyes wouldn't focus enough for her to pour the water into the ramen cups, so she ended up giving everyone granola bars. That didn't sit well with the hungry group, especially the always ramen hungry hanyou. He told her exactly what he thought of granola in his usual colorful way.

And that is how the miko ended up sobbing in the middle of the camp site.

"Let's just leave the stupid thing here, Kagome. You can pick it up on your way home. So what if you fail." Kagome and Shippo gasped in horror at Inuyasha's suggestion. Sango and Miroku were looking expectantly. Likely hoping that she would think it was a good idea. "You fail all the time anyhow in school don't you?"

"YOU WANT TO ABANDON MIKOMI?" screamed Kagome.

Inuyasha was looking a little nervous. "Keh, she's not a real baby. Let's just get rid of it. It's too much trouble."

"I can't fail, Inuyasha! I can't!" She hugged the baby closer to her chest. She wasn't sure which would be worse, failing the grade, or failing at her first attempt at trying to be a good mother. "Please…"

Inuyasha sighed and sat next to her. "We can't keep dragging that thing around with us. It gets in the way. It doesn't do ANYTHING but cause problems. Let's just ditch it."

Kagome shook her head determinedly, wiping the tears from her face. "I can't ditch it. Even if I wanted to I couldn't. We are responsible for the babies. And my mom will have to pay the school five hundred dollars if I lose it. We can't afford that."

"What if we took her home and left her with your mother? Then you wouldn't fail and the baby would be looked after."

Kagome's eyes lit up at the dog demon's suggestion. Then she sighed and frowned. "That would be cheating."

He scowled at her. His patience limit was quickly being tested. "It's getting too dangerous, Kagome. The last few battles you were totally useless! You can't shoot an arrow straight now to save your life! And it almost cost your life yesterday! I won't risk you dying because of some stupid GRADE!" He looked away from her. "Besides, that thing is a nuisance."

"I know it is… but I don't want to fail."

With a stifled groan Inuyasha sank down beside her and covered his eyes with his hand. Then he decided to try a different approach. Who said that strategy wasn't one of his strong points? "You could get a full night's sleep. You wouldn't have to get up so many times in the middle of the night."

Ah, now that was just the thing to tempt a tired miko.

She sighed and looked up with hope in her eyes. "Maybe…" she sniffled. "Maybe we could go see Mama tomorrow. Maybe just for a night or two. If I stayed there too then it wouldn't really be cheating… I could take a nap or bath or something while Mama watched her."

Before Kagome completed her sentence, Sango and Miroku were already gathering their supplies. Camp was quickly packed up in record time, and the group began the slow journey back to Kaede's village. The humans' spirits were a little higher than they had been earlier in the morning.

"The trip wasn't a total loss," said Sango as they walked back to the village. "We found another jewel shard. Plus since there is no news on Naraku's whereabouts, taking a few days off isn't such a bad idea."

Miroku agreed. "We can take this opportunity to stock up on supplies as well."

"And I would like to repair my weapons. I might even go back to the demon exterminators' village."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes at the group's efforts to reinforce the idea that Kagome should go home. He knew the comments were directed at him so he wouldn't make a fuss about Kagome leaving for a few days. _Keh, I'M the one who suggested she go in the first place, morons._

He looked down at the girl and frowned. Their helpful comments were not exactly making Kagome feel any better. In fact, she was looking even more miserable.

But Kagome wasn't the only one who had stopped participating in the conversation. Shippo was also curiously quiet. While camp was packed up he had hardly spoken a word. He didn't ask to hold Mikomi. He didn't ride on Kagome or Inuyasha. He walked slowly behind the group, right behind a sullen Kagome. Not once during the day did he say anything to make Inuyasha mad, even when there was plenty of opportunity for him to do so.

Frankly, the ultra polite and quiet Shippo was beginning to worry Kagome. She felt bad that she hadn't noticed before suppertime. She chalked it up to having an overly tired brain. _I'll talk to him after dinner,_ she promised herself.

Lack of sleep had made the young miko overly tired, and prone to forgetfulness. It took most of her concentration to just put one foot in front of the other. Even with Inuyasha carrying her sack and Sango and Miroku taking turns carrying Mikomi, Kagome still had problems keeping up with the others. It didn't help matters when she thought about what a burden she had been on the group since her assignment began. She hoped they would still be talking to her at the end of the month.

When Inuyasha finally called for the group to stop for camp, she was too tired to even move someplace comfortable to collapse.

Miroku took over Kagome's usual chore of making dinner for the group. He poked through her bag (probably a little longer than necessary) until he found the ramen and the kettle for water.

Too tired for ramen, Kagome began to doze off in front of the fire.

"You don't look too good, Kagome."

Sleepily she opened one eye, just enough to see that Inuyasha's nose was about two centimeters from her own. Usually this would cause her to blush and jump back stammering or yelling 'sit boy'. But today she was just too tired.

"Tired," she said, letting her head drop forward. She felt Inuyasha sit beside her, and let her head fall onto his shoulder.

"You need to eat."

"Tired," she mumbled before yawning.

"I think something is wrong with Shippo," he whispered.

Kagome's eyes popped open and she sat up. _Shippo!_

The kit was sitting quietly across from them. He was being very still and very watchful. And very neat. He had gathered up all the ramen cups and had them stacked neatly, waiting for Kagome to dispose of them as usual. He also made himself a bed out of a pile of leaves.

"Shippo?" she called.

Obediently Shippo jumped up and raced to her. He stopped just in front of her, looking nervous and a little scared. "Yes?"

Kagome stifled another yawn and patted her lap, an invitation for him to sit. "Is there something wrong?"

He shook his head as he crawled into her lap. "I'm fine. Nothing is wrong."

"You're being awfully quiet today."

He looked away. "I thought it was good to be quiet."

"Mmm… sometimes it is. But we're worried that something is wrong. You can tell us anything, Shippo."

"Nothing is wrong."

"Shippo…"

His green eyes began to water. "I just want to be good. I don't want to be any trouble."

This shocked both the girl and the hanyou. Why was Shippo crying? Could it be that he was suffering from lack of sleep as well?

"Oi, brat! What's with the tears?"

Shippo winced as he glanced at Inuyasha. "I don't want to be a nuisance," he whispered as he hugged Kagome tightly.

Suddenly Kagome's heart sank. _Shippo thinks we might abandon him because of what we were saying about Mikomi._ She turned to look at Inuyasha, and could tell that he had drawn the same conclusion. He looked at her pleadingly before looking away. Kagome gave him a smile she knew he could sense if not see. Immediately she sat Mikomi aside and held onto the little fox kit.

"We will never abandon you, Shippo. Never!"

"But I fight with Inuyasha…"

"So do I." She stroked his hair.

"I'm not as good of a fighter…"

Kagome shrugged. "You're young. And you get better every day with your transformations. You learn and grow every day. Besides, there is more to winning a battle than fighting."

"I'm not a provider…"

This time Inuyasha answered. "Oi, that's MY job, brat."

Shippo lip trembled before he began to wail. "I don't want to be alone!"

"Oh, Shippo! You won't be alone! You'll always have us! Always! We're family. All of us. We love you!"

Soothingly Kagome rocked him back and forth in her arms. She made soft cooing and shushing sounds, reassuring him that he would never be alone, that he was loved, and that he belonged in their family for all time. She rested her cheek on the top of his head and continued to rock him, even after he cried himself to sleep.

When she finally looked up she saw Inuyasha watching her rock Shippo. He looked sad and uncertain. Did he question his part in the family as well?

"We're family," she repeated, looking straight into Inuyasha's eyes. "I will always love this family, and I will always come back to this family."

"Keh."

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I find that I joke about wanting to abandon the baby and just get a failing grade these days. Sometimes I'm not so sure it's a joke though. I'm sure there's a fine line there somewhere. The baby may make me tired and grumpy and may seriously get in the way at times, but I don't think I could really do it, abandon it I mean. 

One thing I learned is that sometimes you have to be careful what you say to other people. Especially if they are younger. When you are under stress sometimes you might say things you don't really mean, or you don't think about how other people will take it. 

Dealing with the baby is making me realize that people deal with things in different ways. Sometimes it is easy to forget that. When you see someone smiling and happy all the time it is easy to forget that they have sad things and scared things inside of them that they may be hiding.

This baby has become important to my family because it is making us realize how important we are to each other.

This assignment has also started me thinking about families, and how different they are. Some families might be mom and dad with their two point five kids. The Higurashi family has me, my brother, my mom, and my grandpa. Families also don't have to be related by blood at all. In fact, some of the strongest family ties may be from people who have CHOSEN to make themselves a family.

Why does the baby cry all the time? Am I doing something wrong? Do they all cry like this? Isn't there an easier way to tell what they want? Do mothers have some sort of instinct that tells them what to do and what the babies want? If I don't have this instinct now will I get it when I become a mom? Because right now I don't have a clue what to do and I'm starting to get worried.

Kagome Higurashi


	6. Inuyasha Changes A Diaper

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Six: Inuyasha Changes a Diaper

Day Eight –

Sometimes it feels like you are all alone and that there's no way you can possibly make it through, especially with this assignment. It isn't like people are knocking down doors to take care of a screaming baby after all.

But sometimes people surprise you.

Smiling, Kagome let her attention wander from her project to the sleeping hanyou. Taking the all too rare opportunity she softly stroked his ears.

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_She can barely keep her eyes open. I've never seen her this tired before. Maybe Kaede has some herbs that will help._ Inuyasha stole a glance at the girl who he had been carrying piggy back for the last few hours. _She's going to make herself sick._

Shippo was walking beside Inuyasha carrying Mikomi. The hanyou was also beginning to worry that the fox kit was getting too attached to the doll. It wasn't a real little sister for him after all, but he was acting like it was. It was almost scary. But Inuyasha knew he wasn't good at talking about delicate subjects. If it was up to him he would toss the stupid plastic electronic thing and be done with it. _All it does is cause problems. Like we really need any MORE problems. But… if is THAT important to Kagome…_

With Miroku and Sango 'scouting' up ahead, though really everyone knew they just wanted a break from the crying plastic baby, the trip was more pleasant than usual. Excluding the crying of course. The two annoying humans weren't there to make their nosy remarks on his relationship with the live miko and the not-quite-dead-anymore miko. They weren't there to eavesdrop on his conversations with Kagome (though admittedly there wasn't much to listen to since the girl was either sleeping or trying to quiet Mikomi down). And they weren't there to do their best to embarrass him in front of Kagome either.

Shippo was being curiously quiet as well. He spent the majority of his time fussing over Mikomi or begging attention from the walking zombie adopted mother of his. The rest of the time he walked quietly beside Inuyasha or sat on his shoulder. The kit wasn't making fun, playing tricks, or trying to get him mad. He seemed… content. Inuyasha wondered if the little fox finally understood what Kagome was trying to tell him.

Remembering the conversation brought a blush to Inuyasha's cheeks. _She was assuring me of my place too. But I already knew where I belonged. _He glanced back again. The first day he and Kagome had met with Jinenji, another half demon, Inuyasha knew that he belonged with the dark haired girl he was carrying on his back. He knew his path in life had changed. _She said she loved this family… that she will always come back to us._ He shook his head, not wanted to consider what she might have really meant.

Of course he knew that she loved him. She had told him a million different ways. Once she had even said that she loved him as a half demon. Plus there was the time that she had kissed him. Okay, it was to bring back his human half of his soul when he was a full demon, but it was still a kiss. It counted. There were other things too. She always brought his favorite noodles from the future. She held his hand. She comforted him with a hug when things seemed unbearable. She risked her life to save his. She would almost literally burn with jealousy when Kikyo's name was mentioned. Oh yes, he knew she loved him.

But thinking about it meant that he would have to examine his own feelings. Sure he knew he loved her and belonged with her, but what would happen if he told her? Then it would become real. Really real. Then they would have to deal with it. Things might change. And those three nosy companions of theirs would never give them a moments rest. Having to explain it to Kikyo would be excruciating too, though he suspected the undead miko already know. All that AND there was the threat of Naraku still looming over them.

_Besides, she still has school. Maybe when this is over… _Inuyasha frowned and shook those thoughts away. He didn't want to think about when it was over. Kagome wouldn't leave him on purpose, he knew that. But what if she didn't have a choice? He would follow her if he could. But what if he couldn't? What if the magic of the well wouldn't let him through? What if the well took her away from him forever?

"Oi, wench," Inuyasha called over his shoulder softly. "We're almost to the well."

Ah, the well. The hanyou had a love-hate relationship with the inanimate object. When Kagome was on the other side of the well he hated it for keeping her so far from his protection. He would wait by it until it brought her back. When Kagome was on this side of the well he hated it for being the object that would soon take her away from him.

Come to think of it, it was more of a hate-hate relationship. The only good thing it ever did was bring her to him in the first place.

"Wake up, Kagome."

The group had decided that Kagome should go straight home, that there wasn't a need for them to make the extra trip to Kaede's village. He would come back for the old miko's herbs to relax her once Kagome was safe in her mother's home.

His ear twitched as she yawned. He didn't miss the light giggle as his ear moved. Inuyasha wasn't certain what her fascination was with his ears. She should be repulsed by them, not amused by them. And certainly not obsessed with stealing a touch when she thought he was sleeping. He rolled his eyes, _humans are so hard to understand._

"Thanks," she said as she stepped down to the ground.

"Keh."

She giggled again, this time she didn't try to hide it. "I'll take that as your way of saying 'you're welcome'." Inuyasha watched as she gently took the doll from Shippo. "It's time for us to go now. But we'll be back in a few days. Make sure to mind Sango and keep an eye out for Miroku."

"Okay. Come back soon!" He gave her a hug then walked off towards the village. He had only gone a few steps before he turned around and waved. "Don't forget the pocky!"

Kagome laughed again and waved as the kit left, her smile faltered. With as quickly as she turned from him, Inuyasha knew that she was trying to hide something. She was sad, he could smell it, even if there weren't any salty tears yet.

"What's wrong, wench?"

She sighed. "Nothing. Are you ready to go?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" She glared at him with her bloodshot eyes. Inuyasha tried not to flinch. He couldn't help it though, sometimes Kagome could be scary!

He watched her as she watched Shippo disappear into the trees.

"You don't like leaving him, do you?" He smirked when she looked at him in surprise. _I was right! _ He looked away from her. "Then don't leave him. Just stay here."

When she didn't answer right away he looked back at her. _She's actually considering it! Why didn't I think of using the brat as an excuse before?_

She bit her lip. "But school… I have to graduate, Inuyasha."

"You graduate soon though. You said you did. You said you wouldn't have to go to school anymore soon. You said that." He knew he was starting to talk in circles and snapped his jaw shut. "Not that I care," he added.

"Stay… here?"

"Yes."

"For good? You mean forever."

He took a deep breath that wasn't as calming as he hoped it would be. "Yes."

"Because of… Shippo…?"

Inuyasha shrugged. The conversation was beginning to get uncomfortable, so he did what he always did when that happens. He got grumpy and changed the subject.

"We don't have all day, wench. I'm hungry."

She smiled at him with a thoughtful smile. "Maybe Mama will have some Ramen in the house. Want me to cook you some?"

"You better."

He knew that she knew that he was just trying to get out of the conversation. He was also grateful that she didn't push the subject. _Probably because she's too tired to._ And it was true. The girl couldn't go a whole minute without yawning and her eyes were bloodshot with disturbing bags underneath.

_When is the last time she slept for more than an hour? _It bothered him that she was looking so worn. _If she doesn't get some rest soon, some real rest, then she could get sick. She could get sick and die. Or she could make a fatal mistake in battle and die! Or Miroku might grope her and she wouldn't be able to stop him! Or… _The possibilities all seemed horrific, and Inuyasha began to feel sick to his stomach. Kagome was getting sleep if he had to slaughter every loud breathing thing in town.

He scooped up his suddenly fragile looking companion, her bag, and the baby doll and jumped down the well. In a few leaps he was out of the well and at her front door, five hundred years in the future.

When he first came to her era he hated it. He hated the smells and the sounds. But most of all he hated feeling stupid and out of control. It was more difficult protecting Kagome here, there were so many rules about what he had to do and what he couldn't do. But over time he started liking a few things about it. The Ramen, of course, was the best thing of all. The television was interesting sometimes. The stove was nice. Oh, and the microwave! It could make his noodles in just minutes!

He also liked Kagome's room. Okay, so he wasn't too crazy about the color, but other than that it was his favorite place to be. It smelled like her. The whole room smelled like Kagome. And the bed was comfortable. Plus it was fun to torment the cat, even if he got yelled at for it. The dinners her mother made were also good. The kid wasn't too bad either once you got used to him, though he was just as nosy as his annoying friends on the other side of the well. The grandfather throwing those useless wards on him did get irritating after awhile, but nothing he couldn't live with.

He stopped suddenly. _When did I start thinking about living here?_

Before he could reach the door, a woman who looked like an older version of Kagome answered the door. It was her mother. Inuyasha suspected she had psychic powers but kept them well hidden.

"Welcome home," the woman said as she patted Inuyasha on the cheek and opened the door wider to let him through.

"She needs sleep," he brusquely told her as he took Kagome straight up to her room.

After setting her on her bed and tucking the blanket around her body, he took Mikomi and quietly stepped out of the room. He went downstairs with his little bundle to look for Kagome's mother. As usual, he found her in the kitchen. She had two cups of tea, one, he knew, was for him.

"Uh… Mrs. Kagome's Mom… I have a question…."

"No," she said without losing her smile, sipping the hot tea. "Not for three more months, Inuyasha. We had an agreement."

The hanyou blushed and staggered back.

"No! It's not about THAT!"

Ug, THAT is a conversation he wished he could erase from time. Two years ago he came to her mother to ask her if Kagome could be his mate. She had told him no without even a moment's hesitation.

He had been angry, of course. Luckily he hadn't bolted and stolen Kagome down the well, which had been his first instinct, before the woman explained herself. Kagome had to finish school first. When she graduated she would be able to marry, or be mated, or whatever demons did to bind themselves to the other. But not one day before and it had to be for life. No breaking her little girl's heart.

Inuyasha was grateful, at least, that she wasn't making him wait until the miko turned eighteen. The extra two months just might kill him.

To make matters worse, during the conversation her mother talked to him about love and sex and responsibility and birth control and more topics that the hanyou hoped he would never have to hear about again. Talk about embarrassing! She made him promise to wait to pursue a more intimate relationship, he really hated how she emphasized the word 'intimate'. She didn't outright make a death threat, but he knew it was there. That was very clear. And frankly, the woman could be scarier than Kagome at her angriest. The woman could strike fear in your heart without ever losing her smile.

"It's about this!" He shoved the cloth wrapped bundle at Kagome's mother. "It won't let Kagome sleep. Can you take care of it for a couple of days so she can rest?" He thought for a moment before adding a grumbly sounding "please". He didn't fully understand the magic in the 'magic word', but it usually seemed to work with this woman.

With a smile the woman took the object. "Of course, Inuyasha. But I don't know how this operates. Do you know how it works or should I go ask Kagome?"

"Let her sleep!" He growled as he snatched the electronic baby back and peeled off the blanket. He turned it around to show her a series of buttons on the back. "She pushes these buttons and they make it shut up." As if on cue, the baby began to cry.

"Which buttons do what?" She patiently waited for the answer. And waited. Then she realized that the half dog demon likely didn't know and was simply randomly poking at the buttons. "Perhaps we should wake Kagome for a few minutes, just long enough to explain about the buttons."

_Do not kill mate's mother… do not kill mate's mother… _"No," he said more firmly than he intended. "No one disturbs Kagome. She needs to sleep." _Do not destroy mate's school project and make her go to school for an extra year… Do not destroy mate's school project and make her go to school for an extra year… How do you shut this stupid thing off?_

None of the buttons were working. By the blank look on Kagome's mother's face, the woman wouldn't be of any help. He put one clawed hand over the wailing baby's mouth as he listened for Kagome. _Still sleeping. But for how long with this stupid thing screeching?_ He put the baby up against his chest and began to bounce up and down.

"What are you doing?"

Inuyasha looked at the woman, who was staring at him with an odd expression. "Kagome does this sometimes to make the baby be quiet. Sometimes it works." Awkwardly he began to pat Mikomi's back. He was mystified by the tears that began to shine in the woman's eyes in front of him. _What brought that on?_

But as quickly as the tears came they were gone. Replaced by an amused smile_. I'll never understand women. Ever._

"And if that doesn't work?" she asked as the baby continued to wail.

Inuyasha thought back to all the things that he saw Kagome do with the child as he started pressing all the buttons all over again. Food! He shoved the baby at his mate-to-be's mother and ran to the hall where he dropped her bag. After a few moments of digging he found the special baby food. He popped open the lid and started shoveling food from the jar to the baby's mouth with the little rubber spoon.

But alas, that didn't work either. He was getting a little annoyed, not just with the electronic screaming baby, but with the overly amused looks of Kagome's mother. What was so funny about this evil computer chip that was determined to not give him a moment's rest?

"And if that doesn't work?" she asked again as the now messy baby continued to wail.

Inuyasha cursed his luck and the fates. There was only one thing left after all. With a head hanging low he trudged back to the bag. Since half the contents were on the floor form his previous searching, it didn't take him long to find what he was looking for. Once he found it he went back to Kagome's mother and took the baby away from her again. He sighed heavily.

He set the baby on the table and sighed again. The he began peeling away diaper. The synthetic baby had indeed made a synthetic mess. Kagome had tried explaining to him once how the food that they fed the baby would make its way through the baby, but he had only half listened to her. Luckily it didn't smell as bad as it would have had this been a real baby.

Ignoring the woman who was studying him from across the table, he took a cleaning cloth and cleaned the baby's bottom, making a face at the awful color of the mess. Did they have to make it look so realistic? He grabbed the bottle of powder that he often saw Kagome use on the baby and tapped the sides to get it to sprinkle out. His taps must've been a wee bit more powerful than the miko's because suddenly Mikomi was covered in white powder. Taking a deep breath he blew most of it off. It still looked a bit dusty… but oh well. It was powdered wasn't it?

Quickly and efficiently he rolled the used cleaning wipe into the diaper and used the tape to turn it into a ball. He threw it over his shoulder into the waiting trashcan. Just as quickly he put the new diaper on the baby and secured it. Just as he taped it closed, Mikomi stopped crying and gave one of its contented gurgles.

"Can you do that?" he asked Kagome's mother seriously.

The woman actually smirked! "Yes, I believe I can."

"Will you watch the baby? Please? Just let Kagome sleep."

Once he got her agreement to watch over the baby, he showed her where the food was, how to feed the baby, and where the diapers were. He then gave her instructions on what she was to do if she needed help. She was NOT to go to Kagome's room and disturb her, she could simply call for him quietly at the stairs and he would hear. He repeated several times that no one was to disturb Kagome. Thank included her little brother.

After wrapping the baby back up in the blanket Inuyasha turned to Kagome's mother. Suddenly he knew what the look in her eyes was. It was longing. She wanted to be a grandmother. She wanted to hold Kagome's baby. And… his own.

He looked down at Mikomi. What would it be like to have a pup of his own? He hadn't thought past officially making Kagome his mate. But a family? A family of his own? Pups of his own? _Do I want that? Will people hate my pups because they will be hanyous? Will they treat them like they treated me?_ Inuyasha didn't realize he was growling. _I won't let them!_

Unconsciously he took a step back away from the woman who looked so much like Kagome. Suddenly she was a potential threat to his pup. At her quizzical look he realized he was being as silly as Shippo. _This thing isn't real._ With a blush he handed the bundle to her mother and ran up the stairs.

As soon as he stepped into Kagome's room he felt more at peace. He sat beside her bed and watched her sleep.

For the first time, Inuyasha contemplated being a father. Really being a father.

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Yesterday I knew that I was going to fail. I was going to fail the assignment and I was going to fail as a mother. I was too tired to see straight, much less make good decisions. All I wanted to do was cry, and I've done more than my share of crying over this assignment already. I don't want to fail. It's more than the grade though.

Should you really be handing out assignments that completely shatter a person's self confidence? Isn't that a little cruel? 

For the first time since the assignment began I was finally able to get some sleep, thanks to an overzealous and overprotective friend. I realized then that I didn't have to do this alone. I have people who love me and help me. I have people I can depend on.

I know that getting a baby-sitter isn't cheating, that many parents get sitters for their kids. Now I know that it is to keep them sane. I may live through this assignment after all.

It's amazing what twelve hours of sleep can do to change a person's disposition. 

Kagome Higurashi


	7. Shop Til You Drop

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Seven: Shop 'Til You Drop

Day Ten –

Babies are expensive. Who knew! And not just the food and diapers either, which cost a small fortune themselves. But all that other stuff! Cribs, play pens, walkers, toys, clothes, and a million other things! 

Was it luck of the draw that I got single mother with low paying job or are you trying to tell me something? 

Kagome looked up from the table where she was working on her diary entry and budget over at the blue backpack sitting next to her yellow one. She almost felt silly at how giddy she felt looking at them side by side. _I'm just being stupid._

But she continued smiling.

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"Jail?"

Kagome sighed heavily as she rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "No, Inuyasha, this isn't a jail. It's a playpen."

Squatting down for closer inspection, Inuyasha poked at the playpen with a clawed finger. Then he rattled it a bit. Glancing up at his friend he said, "I dunno, it looks like a baby jail to me."

The twinkle in his eyes made Kagome break out in helpless giggles. _He's actually making a joke!_ She ignored the looks of the other customers in the store and sat next to the dog demon and gave him a happy grin. For the first time in a very long time, homework was actually fun.

"I guess from a baby's point of view it sort of is like jail."

"Told ya," smirked the hanyou.

With a laugh Kagome bumped him with her shoulder before standing up. She pulled out her checklist and found the word 'playpen'. She scribbled down the prices of some of the playpens on display and frowned. _They are so expensive!_

"Now what are you doing, wench?"

Kagome looked up to find herself almost nose to nose with a pair of curious golden eyes. Her personal space radar went off, but she happily ignored it. If he wasn't going to complain about being so close than she sure wasn't! Of course, being in a store full of bustling people was keeping her dog demon friend a lot closer than usual. He was reluctant to stray far from her. She wasn't sure if it was for her protection or for his. Either way, it worked for her!

"Part of this assignment is on finances, you know, money. I have to find out how expensive all the baby items on this list are and see which ones I can afford. That's part of it," she explained as she showed him the list.

"What's the other part?"

"Well, I have a budget that I was given based on the income I'll be making as a single mother with a high school education. Most of the others are married. Some have two incomes and some have only one. The teacher decided who was getting what income." She hoped she didn't sound as bitter as she felt. On the plus side, not having a partner meant that she didn't have to work with anyone on this assignment. Anyone but her current companion that was.

"And income is based on education?"

"Mostly." She nodded. "Definitely in this project. Most of the things on this list I won't be able to buy with my income."

Inuyasha frowned. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked away. "We don't need most of this junk anyhow. I'm not putting the baby in jail."

Kagome giggled. "It's to keep the baby from crawling away and getting injured while you are doing something else. It's not a punishment, you know."

"We have Shippo for that." He thought for a moment. "And Kaede. So no baby jail. I don't want the pup in a cage."

"Okay, no playpen."

Inuyasha peeked at her papers again. "What other things do you need?"

Kagome looked at her list, flipping the pages of her notebook. "Well, I'll need money so I can find a place to live, find a day care for the baby so I can go to work, groceries, electricity and water, money for a car or public transportation…"

"You need money for all that?"

Kagome nodded. "Which is why I keep telling you it's so important that I go to school."

"Feh, you don't need it. You already have a place to live and people to take care of the baby. I can find us food, and I can find water anywhere," he bragged while pointing to his nose. "So, what is on that list that you want?"

Blushing Kagome looked down at her list. _ He is taking this so seriously. It's almost as if he's talking about…Don't be stupid, Kagome. Think about something else!_ "Ummm… how about a stroller? We'll need one of those to push the baby around in." Knowing Inuyasha would be behind her, Kagome nearly sprinted to the strollers.

Gasping in delight at a frilly pink stroller, Kagome pointed and declared that she wanted THAT stroller. It was Inuyasha's turn to roll his eyes to the ceiling.

Inuyasha went over to the stroller and studied it. He looked at the straps and the wheels. He tipped it from side to side and gave it an experimental push. Then he looked at the other strollers before glaring at the stroller Kagome chose.

"Keh, that's a puny stroller. It wouldn't last one day on the road. The wheels would be useless by the end of the day. Besides, it doesn't have room to carry junk like some of those others. And the straps wouldn't keep the baby in. If a demon attacked we'd practically be ASKING it to eat our baby. The other one might work though."

Kagome's eyes followed the direction Inuyasha was pointing, but her brain had momentarily stopped working. _OUR baby?_

"THIS is a good stroller."

Blinking quickly and shoving the word 'OUR' to the back of her mind, the girl focused on what her friend was pointing at. "Inuyasha, this isn't a stroller, this is a miniature sports utility vehicle!" Kagome stared at the stroller Inuyasha chose with her mouth wide open. It was HUGE!

"The wheels can take a beating on this one," Inuyasha explained as he proceeded to bang the stroller up and down rather violently. Some of the customers looked a little scared, all of them kept their distance. Kagome would have complained, but it was kind of nice having so much space when shopping. "And the frame is tough. Plus look at all the room it has to put things in. Do you know how much ramen this would hold?"

"You mean how much baby stuff it would hold?"

"And ramen! There's room for all of it!"

Kagome snickered. _Next time we go shopping we should probably eat first_. "Are you sure this is THE one we want?"

Inuyasha nodded, giving his find a pat.

With a sigh Kagome wrote down the model and the price of the chosen vehicle. "We'll just have to spend less on other stuff."

Very little time was spent looking at the highchairs, which Inuyasha hated. After all, they ate nearly all their meals sitting on the ground or on logs, right? He also felt it was a safety risk. The chair made the pup too easy of a target for flying demons. Besides that, on uneven ground it would be falling over every two seconds.

Cribs looked too much like cages for Inuyasha as well. Cradles looked too bulky to carry around and the baby would outgrow it too fast. Kagome pointed at the baby harnesses and he gave her an evil look. She shrugged and they moved on.

"Look! Baby monitors!"

Unimpressed, Inuyasha looked at the box Kagome was holding. "What does it do?"

"Stop poking it. If you break it we have to buy it. I don't think Mama would appreciate that too much. A baby monitor is like an intercom system." He gave her a blank look. "Or a walkie-talkie." His expression didn't change. "Umm… it's an electronic device that lets you hear the baby in the other room. That way if the baby cries you'll be able to hear it."

Inuyasha snorted. "What do you think THESE are for."

"Not everyone has cute puppy dog ears, Inuyasha. Some of us need a little help to hear if the baby cries."

"Keh, I'll just wake you up when I hear the pup. We don't need a baby monitor." He couldn't turn fast enough to hide his blush.

"Ooookay." Quickly Kagome jotted down the price of the monitor for the assignment. The prices still had to be written down even if they decided not to buy them.

On the next aisle was the bottles. After a short, not to mention embarrassing, discussion on bottles and if they would need them (they decided they didn't), the friends moved on to baby clothes.

Even though his ears were covered by the red baseball cap, Inuyasha still cringed at the squeals Kagome was making.

"They are just CLOTHES! What are you getting so worked up about, wench?"

With sparkling eyes Kagome turned around, holding a little purple lacy dress. "But they are so cuuuute! Aren't they adorable?"

"Whatever. Are any of those made out of fire rat hide?"

Kagome wrinkled her nose. "I doubt it."

Inuyasha took the purple dress from Kagome's fingers. "This thing wouldn't protect the baby from ANYTHING! What good is it?"

"It's pretty."

"It's pretty stupid."

Grrrrrrrrrr.

Inuyasha blinked at the growling girl. Then he smirked. "Stooooopid."

Quickly the girl snatched the dress away from his fingers. "It's cute! It doesn't have to be indestructible armor you know."

"Uh huh. When a demon attacks and breathes fire all over the pup I'll remind you that you said that."

Snarling Kagome turned away from him and took out her notebook, determined to ignore him. But as soon as she set eyes on the next cute outfit her anger was completely forgotten as she let out another squeal of delight.

As she wandered around the clothes area jotting down prices and holding up cute clothes every few seconds for Inuyasha to look at, the dog demon sat on the floor next to the baby shoes. Out of boredom he began fiddling with one of the pairs of shoes. Kagome almost didn't hear him when he spoke.

"They are so small…"

But she did hear him, so she turned curiously to him. "What is?"

"The shoes are so small."

Kagome giggled. "Of course they are. Baby feet are small after all." She watched as he measured the shoe against his finger. She hung up the overalls she was looking at and went to sit next to him. Once more the dog demon was becoming serious.

"They break easy too, don't they?"

"Shoes?"

Inuyasha gave her an unamused glance. "Pups, idiot."

Kagome nodded. "Yes, they can be very fragile. But if you protect them and provide for them well, then they can grow up strong." She punched him in the shoulder. "And don't call me an idiot, you jerk."

They sat together in silence for a few minutes before Kagome went back to looking at clothes. Though after her conversation with Inuyasha, she felt a bit restless. _Does he worry about being a good parent too? Does he even think about being a parent at all?_ She watched as he studied the shoes. From behind a rack of little dresses she noticed the hanyou's gaze go from the shoes to the area where the stroller was located. Then he looked towards the baby backpacks they had seen earlier. She watched in silence as his eyes sought out each item that they had decided they wanted. For a moment he glared down at the shoes, lost in thought.

"Come on, dog boy. I'm famished, let's go get something to eat."

She didn't have to tell Inuyasha twice. He dropped the shoes and started leaping towards the door. However, in mid leap he paused and came crashing to the ground. Something caught his eye.

"Hey Kagome?"

"Yes?"

Inuyasha started walking over to the older children's area. He picked up a small green backpack almost identical to Kagome's and began inspecting it. After a moment he threw it over his shoulder, discarding it. After a bit more searching he came up with a blue pack. Apparently satisfied he turned smugly back to his shopping companion.

"Shippo needs a pack too." He looked slightly nervous over at Kagome before shoving the pack at her. "He's getting older and needs to start pulling his weight."

"Inuyasha…" Kagome took the pack, trying to control her temper. "He's still so young. He doesn't need to be pulling his weight yet."

"He's not THAT young. He needs it." Before Kagome could respond she felt his hands over hers, keeping the pack in her grasp. His golden eyes were boring into her eys with earnest. "He needs it."

Thoughts of Shippo came to her. Yes, he was young. But every since she brought Mikomi to the other side of the well, the kit had been acting differently. He was seeking responsibility. _Inuyasha's right… he does need it. He needs to feel like he's growing up. He needs to feel like he is making a difference. He needs to help._

"You're right."

Although she was expecting him to be surprised at hearing her declare he was actually right about something, she wasn't expecting to actually fall over in shock. She shook her head at him and carried the pack to the register to pay for it. "Talk about overly dramatic," she mumbled to herself.

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Shopping has never been more interesting than when you go shopping with a guy for baby things. They have more opinions than they want you to know. Sure it embarrasses them, especially looking at frilly girly things, but it can still be fun.

Not to mention the fact that you find out that they think more about stuff than you think the do.

Though it would be more fun shopping if I had a bigger budget. 

Kagome Higurashi


	8. Babies are Contagious

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Eight: Babies are Contagious

Day Twelve –

I know I'm lucky, I really do. I have friends and family who help me with the baby. So even though according to my assignment I'm a single mother, I know that I'm not really alone. I re-read the instructions again to make sure that wasn't cheating. Thank the stars above that it isn't, otherwise I'd never make it through this assignment alive.

Having other people help me means that this baby is affecting more people than just me. She is affecting everyone around me in one way or another.

Kagome snickered softly as she looked at her friends across the camp fire. _I really am very lucky._

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"Are babies contagious?"

Kagome stopped feeding Mikomi and arguing with Inuyasha about the right way to do it to look at Shippo in shock. "Contagious?" _Good heavens, what malarkey is Miroku feeding the boy now?_

The fox kit scooted closer to his adopted mother and straightened the blanket that was covering the doll. The care he took in the act tugged at her heart and made Kagome smile warmly.

"What do you mean?"

Shippo sat back and looked over his shoulder to where Sango was knocking everyone's favorite lecherous monk unconscious. "Every since you and Inuyasha left, all Miroku can talk about is babies. More than just asking women to bear him a child, too. He's really serious about it. He's talking about how could take turns caring for one, like we do with Mikomi. He also started talking about names for them." He came closer and whispered the next part in her ear, "Sango hasn't been hitting him much when he talks about it and has even been talking about babies too."

Her mouth dropped open as she looked over to her friends. "Really? Sango?"

Shippo nodded. "Yep. She even mentioned missing holding Mikomi. Miroku said he wanted a dozen children, but Sango said she only wanted as many children as she had hands. They argued for a bit and decided on five kids. Do you think they'll start having babies soon? If they have a baby will I be an uncle or a cousin? Are you and Inuyasha going to have more babies soon too?"

Instead of bopping Shippo over the head, Inuyasha made an odd squeaking sound, sputtered and backed up fearfully. Kagome tried not to drop her electronic doll and desperately tried to regain her composure. She wasn't sure if she was insulted by Inuyasha's reaction, or if she wished she could join him while he cowered across the campsite. Shippo continued to look on with big innocent eyes.

"Soon?" squeaked Kagome.

With a quick shake to bring back his senses, Inuyasha stormed over to the kit and lightly bopped him over the head. "NO ONE is having babies until we defeat Naraku!" He said it loud enough for the other two to hear.

The now conscious Miroku whispered to Sango as he moved closer to her, "He said no having babies. He didn't say anything about making…" But alas, he was unable to finish his sentence as a giant bone boomerang crashed into his skull and he sank once more into blissful sleep.

"He'll never learn," Shippo shook his head sadly.

"Idiot," said three voices in unison.

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"You know," said Kagome to her dog eared friend, "I kinda miss holding Mikomi."

Inuyasha snorted rudely as he glared into the distance. "You should be grateful to get a break from that thing. I'm surprised it isn't permanently attached to your hip. It takes you twice as long to do ANYthing with that baby in your arms. And THREE times as long to make decent ramen!"

"Ah, yes, and that IS the important thing isn't it?"

"Uh… yes?"

When she opened her mouth to yell at Inuyasha, no sound came out. She froze and looked off to the west. The hanyou knew that look. She didn't have to announce that she sensed a jewel shard, but she did anyhow. Kagome ran forward to scoop up Shippo and take Mikomi from Miroku's arms. She didn't miss the look of disappointment that crossed his features and had to keep herself from smirking.

The snake demon was upon them in moments. Kagome took off to hide her treasures behind a boulder without having to be told. She peeked out once they were safely tucked away to see her friends already in battle.

"Stay here, Shippo. Will you protect Mikomi?"

The fox kit stood tall and gave her a solemn look. "With my life."

Kagome kissed him on the top of his head and ruffled his hair. "No, Shippo. Not with your life. Your safety comes first. But thank you."

Grabbing her bow and arrows the miko joined the fight.

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"Why does demon blood have to smell so BAD?" whined Kagome as she shook a good deal of blood and guts off of her once green skirt.

"Keh, just find the shard, wench."

As Kagome rooted through the demon guts while holding her nose, Shippo came out from hiding holding the doll in his arms.

"I did good didn't I?"

"Feh."

"Yes, Shippo. You did very well." Miroku praised the kit. "You will make a fine cousin one day. A perfect babysitter and protector while we battle. I'm sure any parent would feel safe with you watching their child." He looked over at Sango while projecting his voice loudly.

Kagome rolled her eyes as she tried to keep her breakfast in her stomach. _How could anyone think about flirting while they are knee deep in demon innards? _Then again, the monk was safely on dry ground without a speck of blood on him. _How does he do that? A barrier maybe? Blood proof cloth?_ The glow of the shard of the Shikon jewel drew her attention away from her increasingly irate thoughts.

When her fingers touched the jewel it turned from black to crystal pink. She held it tight for a moment before adding it to the little jar where she kept the other jewels.

"I need a bath," she said wearily as she walked back towards the group.

"Feh, you always say that. What is it with this obsession with baths any…" he sniffed the air a couple of times and wrinkled his nose before covering it with the sleeve of his fire rat robe. "Yeah, you DO need a bath."

Kagome smiled sweetly at him. A little tooooo sweetly. "Inuyasha…"

The dog demon cringed, ears flattening to his skull as he braced himself. He knew that tone of voice. _Oh cra…_

"SIT!"

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Shippo waved to Kagome and Sango from his spot on the shore. Since submerging the electronic Mikomi into the water would have been a very bad idea, he babysat on the bank while the girls bathed in the hotspring.

After Kagome finished scrubbing her hair for the third time she glance slyly at her friend, her adopted sister.

"Soooo… Sango…" She began as she squeezed soap out of her hair. "Five kids huh?"

Sango's cheeks burst into flames and she began to sputter. Kagome giggled and ducked under the water to rinse out her hair. While underwater she swam to the other side of the demon exterminator, hoping to catch her off guard.

"Only five? Why not… a dozen?"

"I… we… It was just TALK, Kagome! It's not for sure! He hasn't even really asked. Marriage. I mean, that comes first. Right? It was just talk!"

It wasn't often that anyone got a chance to see the booty whooping demon exterminator blushing and flustered, so Kagome enjoyed it while she could. She gave her friend a knowing smile, then raised one eyebrow slightly. This only sent Sango off on another bout of disjointed denials. Kagome continued to give her that same smile, the one that said she knew what Sango WASN'T telling her, as they finished their baths and got out to get dressed.

"There's nothing wrong with wanting a baby," Kagome said as she put on her shirt. "It's normal. In fact, it's healthy."

Tugging ruthlessly at her clothes, Sango grunted. "I know it is. But… we can't be thinking of babies and families while we are hunting for Naraku. It's too dangerous. We have to wait."

Kagome looked down, paying extra attention to buttoning her skirt. "How long are you going to wait?"

Sango stopped and looked at her friend.

"How long are you going to wait to have a family, Sango? What if it takes years to find and defeat Naraku? What if it takes fifty years? Will you wait that long to have your babies? We have no guarantees that we will survive even the next battle, but even the villagers who never see battle have no guarantee that they will see the next day. No one has that gurantee."

Sango was silent, contemplative.

"And what about Miroku? What if the wind tunnel consumes him before he ever had the chance to hold his baby in his arms?" Kagome pulled up her socks and slipped on her shoes. "Just stuff to think about. C'mon, the guys are waiting. We might be able to get to the next village by nightfall."

The walk back to the road was quiet for the most part, only Shippo was talking. He was playing a game he made up to play with Mikomi with. Kagome ruffled his hair lovingly.

"You really will make a great cousin, or big brother."

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Are babies contagious? Maybe they are. Maybe holding one of those cute little bundles suddenly makes every woman within a ten mile radius start having their maternal instincts kick in. 

At least until it starts crying and needing diaper changes…

I'm beginning to think that I may be getting the hang of this 'being a mother' thing. I think I can actually do this now. Well, as long as my friends and family are there to help. 

Are you sure you want to be encouraging us to have these motherly instincts? Aren't you worried that as soon as class is over we'll all be wanting babies of our own? Real babies. Somehow I don't think the school board would like that very much… or our parents.

Kagome Higurashi

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Author's Notes:

Thanks for your reviews! They are wonderful and really help keep me motivated.

One reviewer asked if Kagome knew that Inuyasha asked her mom to be his mate. Nope, they decided to not say anything about it just yet. He probably thought it would be awkward to keep traveling with her with that up in the air. She might want to (gasp) talk about it.


	9. Uncle Sess

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Nine: Uncle Sess

Day Fifteen –

I know I said that I was finally getting the hang of this being a mother thing. That was until I went to class and saw how good of parents some of the others were. Their babies were wearing name brand clothes while mine looked like it was practically made out of animal skins. 

I carry my baby around in a baby pack while other students, like Hojo, actually have prams. A PRAM! Who has a pram? Where does anyone even FIND a pram anyhow? 

Please tell me we aren't being graded on the toys and stuff that we buy for the babies. Mikomi's toys are pretty much handmade by friends and family, we haven't bought her any at all! Seeing all the things that everyone else seems to be buying for their babies is starting to make me feel a bit inadequate.

If we buy stuff will we be reimbursed for it when the project is over or do we just take it back and get a refund? Or maybe we should just hang on to it since we will all have baby fever by the time this is over.

Well, it's been a little over two weeks since Mikomi came into our lives. And it's been an eventful two weeks, believe me. 

This morning Mikomi got to meet yet another member of her new extended family, her uncle Sess.

A shadow fell over Kagome. She looked up to find a silver haired, golden eyed demon staring down at her and glaring. Usually the sight of her hanyou's half brother would terrify the miko, but at the moment all he did was send her into a fit of giggles.

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Kagome emerged from the well depressed. Even the daunting amount of homework she had from missing so many days didn't seem to phase her. Seeing Hojo push around his baby in the cute frilly little pram made her feel like the world's worst mother with her Inu-altered baby pack. Sure the pack was great for hauling a baby around Feudal Japan and still be able to shoot an arrow should the need arise, but the… uniqueness of the design had caused her to be the butt of many jokes that day.

The dog demon hadn't understood her depression when she returned from school, not that he was waiting for her anxiously or anything mind you. It was by sheer chance that he was sitting on the tree in front of her house and only happened to be looking in her direction. Yup, total coincidence.

Anyhow, after some badgering she finally told him about the teasing. Naturally this infuriated the dog demon. And not because those stupid kids made fun of his… uh… shard detector either. It was purely because they were saying negative things about his craftsmanship with the pack. Nope, her tears didn't affect him one teeny tiny itsy bitsy bit. Nope. Oh ok, so he was off to protect Kagome from the evils of schoolmates by hacking a few of them up. That was no reason to sit him was it?

It didn't take much coaxing to get the girl back through the well armed with a backpack full of ramen and pocky.

Waiting by the well was Shippo. Happily he launched himself into Kagome's arms. Smelling an argument in the air he took Mikomi and made a few quick comments guaranteed to set Inuyasha off on a rampage. He knew it was wrong, but it was funny. He couldn't help it. Old habits die hard.

Shippo watched as Kagome said S-I-T and Inuyasha plummeted to the ground. As always, this amused the kit. He told his electronic little sister how much of an idiot he thought the half demon was.

In mid tirade Inuyasha stopped yelling and started sniffing the air. He growled loudly as the spell wore off and pulled out his sword, pushing Kagome behind him. Shippo squeaked and hid behind Kagome, protecting Mikomi.

Before Kagome had time to question him, she saw a silver haired demon step out of the trees, followed closely by a little girl and a green frog looking demon.

"What do you want, Sesshomaru?" growled Inuyasha.

The older demon looked at the group with cold eyes. "There are stories that you have sired a pup. I have come to erase that mistake. Rin, close your eyes." Obediently the girl covered her eyes with her hands.

Green vapors began forming around the dog demon's hand. He looked into his half-brother's eyes, not responding to the threats or the growling. His lip quirked slightly before he moved his eyes to the female companion hiding the fox kit and child while searching for her bow.

When Sesshomaru's eyes moved to Kagome, Inuyasha's heart stopped beating. His eyes widened in fear before narrowing in fury.

"YOU FIGHT ME!"

But the call came too late as Sesshomaru disappeared and appeared behind Kagome. His hand wrapped around her throat.

"You should learn to protect your pack better, little brother." He began to squeeze.

He expected tears from the girl and an animalistic brainless assault from his brother. He wasn't expecting the girl to glow pink. And he certainly wasn't expecting his own skin to burn where he touched her. Suddenly the pink glow expanded, throwing him away from her. When he looked up he saw Inuyasha standing in front of them with his sword raised and a smirk on his face.

"Wow, Kagome," he heard the kit whisper. "That was cool!"

This time Sesshomaru drew his sword and waited for his brother's attack. He was surprised once more when it didn't come. Inuyasha was waiting. Calculating. He was thinking before acting. It was strange seeing him act rationally.

But there was something wrong. Inhaling, Sesshomaru identified the scents in the air. Rin, Jaken, his brother, the girl, and the fox kit.

"Your pup is dead." Sesshomaru didn't mean to growl as he said it, though it sounded more like an accusation than a statement.

Inuyasha quickly glanced back at his companions, relieved to see they were all alive and well. His scowl fell, and he gave his half-brother a quizzical look.

"What?"

Sesshomaru sheathed his sword. "Even a nose as pathetic as yours should be able to tell that the pup has no scent. It does not breathe. It is not alive."

The tip of Inuyasha's sword dropped a little bit, though his stance remained on alert. He was sporting his trademark smirk.

"It ain't dead 'cuz it was never alive."

Sesshomaru looked on with a passive face as the girl and the kit began laughing. Not one to enjoy being laughed at, and worse, feeling ignorant, Sesshomaru demanded to see the child. Though Inuyasha said no (in very colorful terms) the girl he was with walked towards him with the bundle.

She stood in front of him, studying him. He wondered if one of her powers was reading minds. It would not have surprised him. The girl was stronger than either of them knew, though he did not know why her eyes looked so red or why there were dark circles under them, as if she had not slept well in a very long time. Her stance, though bold, spoke volumes. She was suffering from exhaustion. It was surprising that she was still standing. Did his brother not know how to even care for one simple girl?

"Don't trust him, Kagome." Inuyasha stayed between the girl and his half brother, growling the entire time. His fists were clenching and unclenching to keep from attacking, claws ready. "I'll tear him to pieces if he tries anything."

Kagome rolled her eyes and opened the blanket to reveal Mikomi. She pressed her lips together tightly to keep from smiling at the curiosity that the feared demon lord was trying so hard not to show.

"It is dead," he said with a look of disgust on his face as he pulled away.

Shaking her head, Kagome said, "No, it's not dead. It's just a doll. A very… complex doll. It was never alive to begin with." She held it out a little. "Touch it. But be careful with it, it breaks very easily."

Sesshomaru did not move to take Kagome up on her offer to touch the doll. Instead he called, "Jaken". The green demon appeared at his master's side.

"Yes, my lord Sesshomaru!"

"Touch it."

The trembling demon touched one green digit to the doll's forehead warily. At first he jerked back at the strange feeling of the plastic skin. Then, curious, he touched it again. He tried to explain what it felt like, but couldn't come up with the right words. In the end, Sesshomaru felt the doll for himself.

"It is not real. How is this possible?" He glanced over to his young charge who was practically dancing with curiosity, yet still had her eyes covered just as she had been instructed to. "Come here, Rin."

With a squeal of excitement the young girl practically flew over. She clapped her hands merrily in front of her and was all but bouncing for a chance to see the doll. Eagerly she held out her hands. Just as Sesshomaru was about to hand the doll over to the girl to see, Mikomi began to wail.

Inuyasha barely had time to deflect the swing of Sesshomaru's sword.

"Don't hurt her!"

Kagome managed to dive for the baby and caught it before it hit the ground. For a second there she saw her grades flying out the window. As it was she was probably flirting with a C- with all the rough handling it was getting.

"It is a demon!" He stood between Rin and the wailing demon.

"No, you idiot! Kagome already told you it is a doll."

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed a fraction. "A doll does not cry like a child."

"She already explained about that. You really are an idiot!"

Sesshomaru watched from the corner of his eye as Kagome sat beside Rin as he fought with his brother. She let the girl hold the doll and showed her which buttons to press to make it stop crying, and for how long the button had to be held down to get it to work properly. Although the little girl did not understand the explanations, it was obvious that she enjoyed playing with the doll anyhow. The fox kit appeared on the miko's shoulder to add in his suggestions on how to hold it.

Once again Sesshomaru sheathed his sword, irritating Inuyasha.

"Fight or don't fight! STOP CHANGING YOUR MIND!"

Slowly the dog demon walked towards Kagome. In a blur of red, Inuyasha placed himself in front of her.

"How is it that such a thing exists? Explain."

Kagome launched into an explanation of computer chips and plastic molds. After a few minutes of blank looks she sighed and said, "Magic."

Sesshomaru turned to walk away. The giggles of his young charge stopped him. Silently he watched as his brother's mate patiently played with Rin. It took him a moment to realize that the miko was watching him as well. But she wasn't afraid, once again she was trying to read his mind. He watched as her eyes suddenly widened and she gasped. Then she smiled. Not just any smile, but a bright sunny grin. She glanced towards Inuyasha and back to Sesshomaru. He did not like that she looked like she knew something that she should not.

"Why do you possess such a doll?" Once again the miko smiled brightly at him.

"The doll is to help teach us about being parents. It's designed to record if we respond when it cries, if we feed it, change it, and keep it safe. If we neglect the doll or let her get hurt we fail."

"It trains you to be a parent?"

"Well… sort of. We also have to do a lot of reading and writing with the project. We're supposed to learn about all the stuff that goes along with being a parent that you usually don't think about. Like clothing the child, living expenses, food, doctors, toys, traveling with a child, how much time you have to give up for it, and about a zillion other things."

Sesshomaru looked at her coolly. "I do not believe that a doll can teach so many things."

Smiling, Kagome agreed. "It's not just the doll that does the teaching. My teacher gave us a list of things we have to do and we have to do some research on our own. We also keep a journal where we record all the things we learned that day about being a parent." She reached into her bag to show him her journal full of writing. "Though really I think this whole assignment is to show us just how difficult it is to have a baby. You know, let us know things we'd have to sacrifice to have one."

"Like sleep," mumbled Inuyasha.

"Why do you possess such a doll?" Sesshomaru asked again, this time he looked at his brother as he posed his question.

"IT'S KAGOME'S!"

The miko snickered.

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Before long the sun was setting.

"Come Jaken. Rin." Immediately the two jumped to their feet and were at his side, following him back into the woods.

Kagome sat on the grass with her back resting against her backpack. Inuyasha and Shippo were taking turns insulting how the other held Mikomi. Kagome just hoped they didn't end up tearing the very expensive doll apart.

Drawing her knees up, Kagome thought about the afternoon. Sesshomaru had stayed much longer than she ever dreamed that he would. Especially considering after the second fight was over no one drew a sword again.

"I think he was testing you," said Kagome as she began gathering her stuff to put back in the pack.

"Testing me?"

"He never attacked the baby directly. Maybe he was testing your strength at protecting your pup… you know… since he thought it was yours…" she knew she was blushing, but turned to focus on packing to hide it.

"Feh, why would he care?" He grabbed her pack and slung it over his shoulder. "Let's get to the village. We wasted too much time already."

_Maybe he cares. Maybe he wanted to see his family. After all, had Mikomi been real… Sesshomaru would have been an uncle._ Kagome giggled at the thought as she followed her companions back to Kaede's.

No doubt about it, even though he tried to hide it, the demon had been very curious about the doll and the journal. He had scowled at her notebook, unable to read the words she had written. She decided to chalk it up to a difference that 500 years makes to the written word, not a commentary on her penmanship.

_Or maybe he was so interested because of the little girl who followed him... _

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Though I like to think that even estranged relatives can come back together one day, I know that it isn't always possible. Old wounds may not heal overnight, but I hope that eventually they might heal. It's just hard to be the person to make the first step in forgiveness or understanding. It becomes a habit to hate and hold grudges.

I know that sometimes it may seem like you hate your family, and maybe you do. But maybe sometimes you end up doing things in a weird way for what you think is for someone's good. 

For example, maybe you are really tough on your little brother because you think it will help him to grow up stronger. You fight them to teach them the skills you think they need to defend themselves. Maybe that's the only thing you have to give him since you don't know how to give love or when you think that showing it is a weakness. I didn't say it wasn't a messed up way, but it is a possibility.

What does this have to do with the assignment? More observations on how one small baby can affect a bunch of people, people you might not have in your wildest dreams thought that it would affect. It's kind of like when you throw a stone in a pond and you see the ripples get larger and larger. You've got to love analogies, don't you?

Having a baby around makes you start thinking about family, either the one you were born into, the one you have, or the one you hope to one day have. 

I've also noticed that it takes five people to keep up with just this one baby to keep our sanity. How is it even possible for people to have more than one child? When do people sleep? How do they manage to not go completely insane from sleep deprivation? When do you get the time to take one lousy bubble bath for crying out loud?

I suddenly have uncontrollable desire to hug my mother and apologize. 

By the way, I did some surfing on the net the other day about other students with similar projects. How come they only had to have their babies for one lousy weekend and we are being tortured for an entire month? Do you just hate us? Is this in retaliation about that dissected frog incident? If so, it's not fair to punish us all for what a couple kids did. I was out sick that day and wasn't even there!

Kagome Higurashi


	10. Crying Wolf

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Ten: Crying Wolf

Day Eighteen –

I think that some people are beginning to forget that Mikomi is really a doll. The doll is just too real. Aren't you concerned about traumatizing people? What happens when they get too attached to their 'babies' then have them snatched away from them in exchange for some stupid grade? I will not be happy if I have to send anyone off for some psychological therapy when the doll has to go back.

People think that Mikomi is real whenever they first see her. I've noticed that a lot of people make all sorts of nasty comments about teenage mothers, especially when they don't see a ring on my finger. Even if Mikomi was a real baby it would be a horrible thing to say. They obviously know I can hear them considering they usually say it while looking right at me. That's one reason why the baby and I don't go out much. Usually we go out with friends or family to do things. Most of the time we just go on long walks in the woods or something like that.

Though most people's reaction to the baby irritates me to no end, some of the reactions are quite humorous. The looks on some of their faces when they see she is a plastic doll are just priceless!

Kagome looked over at Shippo who was proudly holding Mikomi up for closer inspection to the pack of wolves. It wasn't going to be easy when the kit had to let Mikomi go. She just hoped that it wouldn't scar the poor kid for life. The last thing he needs is to feel that someone else was being taken away from him.

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"Do all babies eat this junk?" asked Shippo with a sour face as he spoons more 'baby food' into Mikomi's mouth.

"Not that exact stuff, Shippo. That food was made specifically for the electronic dolls so that it wouldn't hurt it's electronic components and still find a way to make the stuff come back out."

He looked at her blankly.

She sighed and tried again. "Since Mikomi is made of the special electronic magic, she has to have special food. It isn't real food. Real baby food is made up out of fruits or vegetables that have been mashed until it is mush. They also drink milk. Really little babies just drink milk until they are old enough for the mashed up food. When they get older they can start having bigger chunks of food when they start getting teeth."

Shippo gasped. "Babies don't have teeth?"

"Not when they are born. It takes a long time until they start getting teeth."

"I had teeth when I was born."

Inuyasha snorts. "That's because you're a fox demon, dummy."

Shippo poked at his sharp teeth, staring down at Mikomi. "Babies… don't have tails either… do they?"

"Human babies don't have tails." Kagome was starting to get a bad feeling about the turn that the conversation was beginning to make. "But fox babies do. I think that they have the cutest tails."

"But human babies don't." He paused. "Your babies won't, will they, Kagome?"

"No!" Inuyasha answers for her gruffly as he moves to sit beside her. "You're the only one of Kagome's babies that will EVER have a tail. But don't think that makes you all that special!" He bonks the kit lightly on the head.

This brightened up the kit's mood considerably. His complaints of Inuyasha hitting him were half-hearted at best. Kagome would have kissed the hanyou if she didn't think he'd jump a mile away and refuse to look her in the eye for the next month or two. She did, however, give him her brightest, most grateful smile. Her smile turned into a grin as the dog demon's cheeks turned an interesting shade of pink.

However, a certain monk decided that he could not leave well enough alone, maybe things were getting too dull, so he adds in his two cents worth.

"Unless she marries a demon with a tail, Shippo. Then her children may inherit some of the father's traits, which may possibly include a tail." This, naturally, had the dog demon spitting mad.

In a mischievous mood, Sango decided to help him along with a deceptively innocent smile on her face. "Like Kouga?"

Kagome sat straight up as Inuyasha began growling viciously at their friends.

"Kouga!" she exclaims.

Inuyasha jumped up from his place beside her and roared. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU ARE EVEN THINKING ABOUT HAVING THAT SCRAWNY MANGY FLEA BITTEN NO GOOD WOL…"

"Kouga is coming this way," Kagome says calmly in the middle of the dog demon's tirade, just as a whirlwind came into view.

Anger transfer complete. Instead of yelling at Kagome, Inuyasha concentrated all of his growling and snarling at the wolf demon who was rapidly approaching. His sword was drawn and he was in his protective fighting stance before the dust settled.

Usually Kouga would ignore the group, look lovingly into Kagome's eyes, take her hands, and inquire about her health. He would then proclaim her his woman, insult Inuyasha a little bit, and be on his merry way with a little encouragement from Kagome. But this time the visit was a little different. This time when Kouga came to a stop his ice blue eyes were filled with anger… and they were directed at Kagome!

"Did HE force you?" the wolf asked through gritted teeth without a greeting, not looking at anyone else. Not even Inuyasha.

Kagome blinked. "What?"

"Did. He. Force. You?"

He took a step towards Kagome, and for the first time since they became friends, she was actually nervous. She felt threatened. The young miko was thankful when her red clad hero jumped in front of her. Protecting her. This time she didn't scold him. Instead she studied the wolf demon from her safe spot behind her protector. Grasping the edge of his fire rat robe with her left hand she steadied herself before addressing the demon in front of her again.

"What are you talking about?"

With a look of disgust Kouga looked down at the baby in Shippo's arms back to her face. "I heard about Inuyasha's pup. YOUR pup. Tell me he forced you, Kagome. I will take you back with me. I will protect you. I will provide for you. I will forgive you. But tell me you were not willing."

Inuyasha began screaming some of the most creative obscenities Kagome had ever heard. Some involved Kouga having inappropriate relations with his mother while others brought into question the wolf's heritage. There were also little sounds that almost sounded like yips and barks, that she was sure were curse words in the dog demon language. She made a mental note to ask him what he said later. In addition to the curses, including the ones of fire and brimstone that Inuyasha swore to send him to, the hanyou also mentioned the various body parts that he would be severing then feeding back to him. Kagome was a little disturbed at some of the gruesome images Inuyasha painted. Poor Shippo was actually turning a bit green.

Considering how mad he was, it was a little surprising that he hadn't started swinging his sword at the wolf. He simply stood his ground, not moving from his spot in front of Kagome. His body was literally trembling in rage.

"How DARE you suggest I would do THAT to KAGOME!"

But Kouga's eyes never left Kagome's. He was watching. Waiting. Even though he was being still and silent, she had never felt that he was more dangerous than at that moment.

Kagome was tempted to ask if he planned on taking care of the baby as well. Would he take in a baby that was half of a half demon? With as much as he seemed to hate hanyous, she seriously doubted it. What would he do? Would he leave her child in the care of strangers or try to kill it? Come to think of it… if she had babies with Kouga, wouldn't they be half demons too? Would he love them? Would he care for them? Would he abandon them in the woods to be killed? Or would he kill them himself?

If Mikomi really was her child, and Inuyasha's, would Kouga hate her the way he hated Inuyasha? Was Kouga a threat to her children?

Kagome's eyes narrowed. She wanted to ask the questions, mainly out of curiosity. But she wasn't sure if she wanted to really know the answers. She doubted that she would be able to remain friends with him if she knew. _Besides,_ she told herself, _I could be wrong. Kouga might learn to care for those who are not full demons one day._ She didn't really believe it, but she hoped.

It took another moment, but it finally sank in what Kouga was asking. She had been so absorbed in her questions about his reactions to the baby that she had almost missed the accusation that Kouga made.

"What…" she asked coldly, "…are you suggesting he did?"

The air began to crackle.

Inuyasha stopped snarling as his ear twitched backwards. He turned his head slightly and saw the now glowing miko. He was certain he saw flames shoot out of her eyes. Quickly he took a step to the side so that should Kagome be in a purifying mood that she only hit the wolf. Yes, he wanted to be the one to kill Kouga, but it would be almost as satisfying seeing her do it.

The sudden change in temperature made Kouga blink. It was at least five degrees chillier than it was a moment ago. Unfortunately for Kouga, he told Kagome exactly what he thought the hanyou did. Too bad he didn't try to sugar coat it a little bit, what happened next might not have hurt quite so bad. Probably adding the extra insults about her friend's heritage didn't help much.

His world suddenly went cold. And pink.

Luckily for Kouga, Kagome wasn't a killer, regardless of how angry she was. He woke up a few hours later in a fair bit of pain and just a bit singed… with a healthy new respect for her. It was actually the baby's cry that woke him up.

Kagome fed the bottle to Mikomi, keeping an eye on the wolf demon who was finally starting to come around. She saw his eyes find her. They turned to ice when he saw the baby she was holding. Slightly amused, now that her anger had been properly vented, Kagome kept watching Kouga's reactions. First he looked angry, then hurt, then angry again. Sometimes his glare would land on her, but it mainly stayed fixed on Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha would never force me to do something like that, Kouga. It is a horrible thing to say about him." She returned his glare. "Apologize to him."

"What?"

"Apologize… NOW." The fire returned to her eyes, and Kouga found himself mumbling a half hearted apology to Inuyasha about accusing him of hurting Kagome. He breathed a sigh of relief when she smiled at him again.

Eventually the wolf demon quit sulking and began to get up. He was curious about the baby. He was hesitant at first, but after assurances that it was indeed a 'magical' doll, the wolf began to poke at it a bit. Inuyasha was quick to remind the demon that he had better be careful of his claws.

"I don't trust it," Kouga growled. "It may be dangerous."

"We explained to you already, Kouga. I need the doll for my class."

"The one that teaches you to be a parent?"

Kagome sighed heavily. "Yes."

The wolf demons suggestion on how she could learn to be a parent by bearing his cubs did nothing in ingratiate himself to the group, especially to the pair of males with demon blood. Inuyasha drew his sword and attacked.

"Sit boy!"

Wham.

Kagome ignored Inuyasha's whining about how she could do that to him, thanked Kouga for his concern and said good-bye as her friends prepared their camp for the evening. She waited for Kouga to leave before starting to get dinner ready. And waited. And waited. The cool blue eyes were beginning to get on her nerves and her eye began to twitch in irritation.

"Oi, what are you still here for, you scrawny wolf?"

Not really the way Kagome had planned on asking the question, but she was still grateful that Inuyasha brought it up. The spell had finally released him and he was once again standing in front of the girl.

"Unlike YOU, I happen to care about Kagome. I plan to keep watch over her. I don't trust that magical doll."

"WHAT?"

Once again, Kagome ignores an outraged dog demon as she tries to reason with the wolf demon. "Really Kouga, that isn't necessary. The doll isn't dangerous. Even if it was I have Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, and Shippo to protect me."

Kouga laughed as he looked at the group. "A child, two weak humans, and a half breed? That's not protection, Kagome." He came towards her and held her hands, not yet noticing that he had once again caused the air to start crackling with her anger. "You are my mate, and only I am strong enough to protect you from it."

It was a struggle to keep her temper under control. "My friends are stronger than you think, Kouga. I appreciate your concern… but we are fine. Don't forget that you have your pack to protect."

Leaning in closely he looked deep into her eyes, causing Inuyasha to forcibly pull him away. "You are my mate." As if that explained everything.

"No, Kouga, I'm not your mate. I'm not your wife. I'm not your woman."

He patted her on the head, dismissing her words. Her friends cringed as they recognized the signs of Kagome losing her temper. A few smooth words by the monk, however, calmed her down a little, just enough for her to lose the slightly scary glow of pink.

There was a bit of an argument about where Kouga would sleep. His suggestion of sleeping with Kagome was immediately turned down by the entire group. Inuyasha also didn't want him across from her. It would be too easy for him to just lie on his side and stare at her all night. It was bad enough Miroku and Sango had agreed to let the monk stay, but there was no way that Inuyasha was going to let the wolf ogle Kagome all night. Eventually the girls voted that Miroku and Kouga would sleep across the campfire from them, with Kouga on the outside. Inuyasha seconded the vote.

During the middle of their dinner of ramen noodles (which, Kouga enjoyed almost as much as Inuyasha) Mikomi began to cry. Inuyasha and Shippo burst out in gales of laughter at the way Kouga had jumped when the doll began screeching.

The doll continued to scream bloody murder as everyone got ready for bed. Kagome picked Mikomi up and bounced her while pressing appropriate buttons. Miroku and Sango decided to alter the sleeping arrangements a bit and got as far away from the screaming baby as they could without seeming rude.

Unfortunately, nothing Kagome did made the baby stop screaming. If anything, it sounded as if the volume had been raised.

"Let's just rip the thing up and get some sleep," suggested the tired wolf demon.

Kagome glared at him. "No."

"Drown it?"

"NO!"

"Isn't there any way to shut that thing up?" Kouga snarled.

Inuyasha snarled back, flexing his claws as a warning. "Leave her alone, you flea bitten wolf! She's doing the best she can!"

As the night wore on, Mikomi kept screaming with only brief moments of silence. At first Kagome thought that maybe there was a loop in the programming that was making it continue to scream the way it was. Kouga glared at the baby from his spot by the fire.

"That thing is dangerous," he said again. "It is a beacon to the other demons. The longer you keep it the more danger you put Kagome in."

"It's none of your business."

"Kagome IS my business, dog breath!" He snarled angrily. "Look at her! She's about to drop dead from exhaustion! When is the last time she slept? That DOLL is destroying her and YOU are LETTING IT HAPPEN!"

Before Inuyasha could answer, he heard a tiny voice.

"I think she's sick, Inuyasha."

Immediately the hanyou dropped down next to her and peered at the baby. "How can you tell?"

"I've tried everything else… everything… and nothing is working.

Kouga watched angrily as Inuyasha discussed the health of the magical doll as if it were a real pup. Fists clenched. _As if it was HIS pup._ His anger rose when Kagome turned her teary eyes to Inuyasha for help. The mutt's eyes softened when he looked at the woman the wolf had claimed as his own. Kagome was frustrated and tired. Inuyasha was tired and irritated. Neither one's attitude was strange considering the fact that they hadn't been able to sleep because of the screaming doll. What WAS strange was that they weren't fighting with each other. They worked together to try and calm and quiet the doll. They were working together as a team.

Kouga watched angrily as the little fox kit woke up, rubbing his eyes, and wandered over to where Inuyasha was now taking a turn rubbing the back of the magical doll. Kagome opened her arms to the kit and apologized for waking him up. She hummed him a tune and rocked him back and forth, brushing his reddish hair from his eyes. Eventually the kit fell back to sleep and the miko tucked him back into bed, giving him a kiss on his forehead and wishing him sweet dreams.

Kouga watched angrily as Inuyasha stole the family that he should have had with Kagome. _It's not too late,_ he lied to himself. _She can still be mine. I can make her love me_. But he watched her eyes as she looked at the kit and the hanyou and his heart cried.

Sometime before dawn the baby quit crying. Kagome was fast asleep when Inuyasha informed the wolf demon that his welcome was worn out.

Before yet another fight could break out, Ginta and Hakkaku showed up looking for Kouga. The sounds of the baby caught their attention and they went to inspect it. The sight of three wolf demons poking at Mikomi was the sight that greeted Kagome when she reluctantly woke up.

"Good morning," she said as she tried to cover up his yawn.

"He's leaving." Inuyasha's voice was hard as steel. "Now."

"Can I take some of those noodles we had for dinner last night with me?" asked Kouga as his pack said their good-byes to their 'sister'.

Inuyasha snarled and stood protectively in front of Kagome's yellow bag. "If you touch even one cup of those noodles I will cut off your arms."

With a cocky grin and a careless wave, Kouga told the group, "I haven't given up on you, Kagome. When you get tired of the mutt I'll come back for you."

Inuyasha didn't bother to answer. Instead he stood with his arms crossed and his foot tapping impatiently to hurry the demon along. Sango and Miroku shook their heads sadly while Shippo rolled his eyes.

"Heh..." Kagome laughed nervously as the three demons took off into the woods. "He's not short on confidence is he?"

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I think Mikomi was sick last night. I didn't know it could be programmed to be sick. Another one of your little surprises? All I know is that I don't think I got more than five minutes sleep. I've heard that people can go insane from lack of sleep. Just thought you should know that.

It was scary not knowing what was wrong with Mikomi. Nothing I tried worked, and trust me, I tried everything. I was on the brink of a hysterical breakdown. Partially from lack of sleep, and partially because I had no idea how to fix what was wrong. The cries coming from her were absolutely heartbreaking. I felt like the world's worst parent. I felt so helpless and stupid. 

Luckily I had someone to help me so I didn't go entirely crazy. We were both frustrated and our nerves were frazzled, but we made it through the night sane. Truthfully, I'm not sure what I would have done if I were alone trying to figure it out. It's really hard to think straight with Mikomi screaming like that. I felt like screaming myself actually.

Mikomi is just a doll, okay, a really awesome doll, but still just a doll. I can only imagine if she was real. If I'm in that big of a panic with an inanimate object, how can I handle the real thing? 

I have to wonder if this class is part of a conspiracy to keep people from ever having children. You do know that if we never ever procreate that the world's population would eventually die off don't you? The human race would be extinct! Are you one of those people who think that people are just viruses on the earth and should be annihilated? Does the principal know about this plot of yours?

Kagome Higurashi

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Authors Notes:

Thanks for your reviews everyone! One of the reviewers suggested the baby be sick, so I hope he doesn't mind that I used it.

I try to answer questions in my story if I can. For example, if a lot of people have questions on a certain subject I may have been too vague on, I try to make it clearer in upcoming chapters. Several people commented on doing a similar project to Kagome's, so I hopped online to check out some of the real programs.

See y'all next chapter!


	11. Unwelcome Visitors

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Eleven: Unwelcome Visitors

Day Nineteen–

Okay, I think I've had this doll waaaay too long. I'm starting to get over protective and possessive. Not only am I starting to view the baby as my own, but now I'm starting to claim all my friends and family as my own and am feeling less and less like sharing. I'm grumpy all the time and it doesn't take much these days to set off my temper. It's also getting harder and harder to keep from saying things I would like to say but know I shouldn't say.

This project isn't exactly bringing out the best in my personality. Though, come to think of it, I can blame it on the lack of sleep I've been getting. I just hope I have friends left by the end of this project.

Kagome turned her attention back to her friends, who were all getting ready for bed after an exhausting day. It would be very easy to blame her irritability and possessiveness on her lack of sleep. But she knew better. She allowed herself a small smile. _Sure… it's the lack of sleep…_

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Groaning, Kagome opened her eyes. Her entire body ached. In addition to all the walking they did yesterday (the visit from Kouga seemed to have spurred Inuyasha on to some sort of ruthless traveling marathon), but in the few moments of time that Kagome had when Mikomi was quiet was spent pouring over her ever increasing pile of homework assignments. Once again, the miko didn't get a wink of sleep.

"It's almost over," Inuyasha mumbled as Kagome gathered her papers and books and stuffed them haphazardly into her bag.

"What?"

"Nuthin'." He pushed a stray book at her with his foot. "Hurry up and pack, wench. Everyone has already finished breakfast."

Bleary eyed, Kagome nodded, waved him away, and yawned. Sitting next to her bag she put in the last book and pulled out her hairbrush. It was a bad sign when it got stuck before she finished the first stroke. With a rather dog demon-ish snarl she growled at her hair as she tugged at it. But it refused to untangle no matter how careful or how hard she brushed. As she was trying to untangle a particularly aggravating knot she had the brush yanked from her grasp.

"Stupid girl."

Tiredly Kagome looked up at Inuyasha, who looked like he was trying to decide if he should break the brush or throw it far away. After a moment he dropped it into the bag and pulled it out of her reach.

"My hair!" she whined. She hated sounding whiney, but she couldn't stop herself.

Her dog-eared friend rolled his eyes before dropping her bag. He scowled at her when she moved towards it and growled a little, then he started rummaging around inside. Kagome sat back and stared, too tired to try and make any sense out of what he was doing. Finally he pulled out a hair band and flung it at her before stalking off with her bag once more.

_That was… almost sweet! _She looked at the hair band in her hand and tried to decide what to do about the rat's nest on her head.

A pony tail was out of the question considering the sad state of her hair, so she settled for the slightly less messy option of a braid. By no stretch of the imagination could it be called 'neat', but it was better than trying to untangle it. She yawned again, promising herself a nice long bath and couple rounds of conditioner once they reached a good place for them to bathe. But quite frankly, for the first time, she was just too tired to care.

"At least you got a good night's sleep," said Miroku as he nodded towards Mikomi. "The baby didn't cry much at all last night."

The sound Kagome made was something between a grunt and a groan, then a few mumblings as she let Sango force a cup of something good smelling in her hands. Miroku gave her a quizzical look, not understanding her mumblings (and told her so). She mumbled again. Miroku opened his mouth to ask her to repeat herself when a clawed fist landed on his head.

"She had homework to do."

Miroku smiled. "It will be over soon though, is that not right, lady Kagome?" But she was so focused on her hot drink that she merely grunted again.

"Seventy three more days," whispered the hanyou wistfully.

"Did you say something, Inuyasha?" asked Shippo.

"Keh." He jumped onto a low hanging branch to wait for the group to get ready to move out once again.

Once they began traveling, Inuyasha carried Kagome on his back and Shippo on his shoulder. Miroku offered to carry the backpack if Sango wouldn't mind carrying Mikomi. Kagome snickered quietly. Though she was bone weary, she kept an eye on her two friends.

Miroku was watching Sango from the corner of his eye. If he watched her too obviously she would get flustered and give the baby to someone else.

"What are so giggly about?" hissed Inuyasha without a backwards glance.

Kagome leaned up to whisper in his ear. "Miroku is watching Sango."

"So? He always watches her."

"That's true, but this time he's watching her with Mikomi. I think he's picturing what his baby would look like in her arms."

Inuyasha was quiet for a moment, moving subtly to shift her weight on her back a bit. "Do you?"

Kagome snuggled in closer, feeling very tired. "Hmm? Do I what?"

Exaggerated sigh. "Do you ever picture your baby when you look at Mikomi?"

Suddenly Kagome's body went from ultra relaxed to stiff as a board. She was worried that she had been too obvious in her daydreams. Her first instinct was to lie. Nothing scares off a guy as much as saying you think about having his baby on a daily basis, especially one who was already skittish when it came to anything remotely connected to emotions or intimacy.

"Yes," she said cautiously as she willed herself to relax again. No sense lying when you didn't really have to. Besides, he always seemed to know when she was lying anyhow, he was like a living, breathing lie detector. However, she didn't have to tell him that it wasn't just her baby that she was imagining. She smirked.

She expected more questioning or some smart aleck remark. But instead all she got was thoughtful silence. She had almost given up on any sort of reply when she could have sworn that she heard him say "me too".

It would have been great to be able to ask him what exactly he meant by that. It would have also have been really nice to be able to pretend it meant what she would have liked it to mean. Was he thinking about his baby? Or was he thinking about a baby with… her… But before she could make up her mind if she wanted to confront him or simply be content to daydream, Kagome found herself dumped unceremoniously on her tush in the middle of the bumpy road.

"Ow!"

The word "sit" was on the tip of her tongue as she rubbed her bottom. She wasn't in this bad a mood on her worst PMS day. What a way to ruin a perfectly good potentially touching moment. But before she could say anything, Shippo was suddenly in her lap holding Mikomi and trembling terribly. Protective instincts kicked in and Kagome jumped to her feet and reached for her bow.

His voice was smooth as silk, but it still made her skin crawl.

"The half breed has managed to father a child."

"Naraku!" To say that Inuyasha was not pleased would be the understatement of the century. His sword was drawn and was leaping towards him before Kagome could blink.

The miko stood in front of Shippo with an arrow trained on Naraku. Unfortunately with Inuyasha's attacks there was the chance of hitting him instead, so she simply kept the arrow drawn and ready. It disturbed her to see Naraku less focused on Inuyasha and more focused on her and, strangely enough, Mikomi. However, it surprised her that she wasn't feeling the usual shiver of fear down her spine, she was feeling something else entirely. It felt like a fire burning inside of her. Her eyes narrowed as she drew the arrow back farther. _How DARE he attack my family!_

"Your child does not live." One of his arms turned into a razor sharp tentacle and whizzed towards Kagome.

"Don't you TOUCH her!" Quickly the tentacle was viciously cut off, as well as the other four that appeared.

"Why do you protect it so fiercely? What are you hiding?" His eyes were staring at Kagome, as if he could read the answers to his questions in her eyes.

Inuyasha paused long enough to make sure Kagome was okay as he prepared for the next attack. He saw her standing there, with a slight glow around her, looking like she could take on Naraku bare handed. He also noticed the arrow. Catching her eye he nodded towards her and used Naraku to push himself off backwards. As he leapt backwards, Kagome let her arrow fly.

Naraku exploded in a shower of pink sparkles.

Kagome dropped to her knees and hugged Shippo to her. When she looked up she saw Sango and Miroku looking back and forth between her and Inuyasha with open mouths. The fuzzy eared half demon was kicking around the area where Naraku had last been standing, obviously looking for something. He swore loudly and angrily.

"It was just a puppet!"

Letting out a disappointed sigh, Kagome stood up. With her hands still on her behind from dusting off her skirt Kagome noticed that Sango and Miroku were still staring at her with funny expressions on their faces.

"What?" she asked irritably.

"That was different," Miroku murmured to Sango.

"What was different?" asked Kagome.

"You're right," agreed the demon exterminator. "It was team work. Did you see how they were communicating with only a look?"

"And they dispatched him so quickly."

"Yes. They are certainly beginning to learn to work together."

"I'm right here, you know!" Kagome said grumpily as she took Mikomi from Shippo and set the kit on her shoulder.

Miroku and Sango continued to discuss the change in their battle tactics as Kagome rolled her eyes and made her way over to Inuyasha. He was scowling down at the remains of the baboon pelt and the broken puppet. She stopped a few feet away from him, letting Shippo down to join the others in their conversation. As always, he was dying to add his two cents worth, but not within bopping distance of the hanyou with the notoriously short temper.

Though he was facing the ground, his eyes were unfocused, staring into nothingness. His arms were crossed in front of his chest with his claws digging into the flesh, drawing blood. Kagome couldn't stand to see him this upset. It wasn't like it was the first time Naraku had sent a puppet after them. Reaching out she placed her hand on his arm.

"He was trying to kill our pup," he whispered.

Suddenly Kagome was very afraid. Terrified. Her insides felt twisted and pinched. His eyes were so sad… so hopeless… like he had given up on something precious. She couldn't help but brush his bangs out of his eyes. When his eyes finally looked into hers all she saw was sorrow and regret.

Without a thought she wrapped her arms around him. She ignored the gasps of her friends as she held him.

"He didn't even come close," she assured him. "Did you see how fast we took him out? We're getting better! And faster! By the time we have a…"

She stopped herself, jumping back like she had been electrocuted and looked anywhere but at him_. I can't believe what I almost said!_ "I mean, you know, if any of us have any pu… uh… kids, we'd be able to handle it no problem! Shippo does a good protecting job and Miroku can do barriers, plus you and Sango are great fighters…" She finally got the guts to look back into his eyes. "Don't give up, okay?"

He looked at her curiously. There was something swirling in his golden eyes that she didn't quite recognize, but made her feel all squishy inside. Then his eyebrows drew together and he glared, baring his teeth slightly. At first Kagome was worried she said something she shouldn't have, or that he caught on to what she almost said. Then she noticed that the look of death was going over her shoulder. She turned to see Sango and Miroku deep in discussion while staring unabashedly at them. Kagome didn't need super hanyou hearing to know what, or rather who, they were talking about.

_Soooo close to an actual MOMENT and we have an audience_, she groaned.

The extra scrutiny made sure that Inuyasha stayed quite some distance away from Kagome for the rest of the afternoon. Which, unfortunately, meant that she was walking instead of being carried. She was seriously considering friendicide. Her feet hurt and it took every drop of energy to keep moving. Sango offered to let her ride Kirara, but some obviously masochistic tendancy kept her from accepting out of spite. So she complained and she complained loudly and often.

Sure she knew she was being unreasonable. Okay, so maybe there were other more unkind words that could be used to describe her attitude, but she was tired and grumpy. She was mad at Inuyasha for letting what their friends said to make him insecure or immature or whatever it was that was making him act like he couldn't care less about her. She was mad at Sango and Miroku for their teasing and whatever it was that they said to destroy her almost moment with the dog demon. To be honest, she was just plain ol' mad. _Things were going so well for once!_

By the time night fell she could no longer work up the energy to be mad. In fact, for the last hour or so she had been feeling guilty about acting so childishly just because she was angry. But even the guilt didn't last terribly long since she was practically asleep on her feet. Luckily they had not run into any more demons. She was sure that if they had she might have just stood there and let them put her out of her misery.

Hours ago Sango and Miroku took Mikomi to care for her before Kagome dropped her, with Shippo's guidance of course. Now she was just grateful to stop.

Her eyelids were heavy. She hoped she could make it through her cup of noodles without passing out. _One more bite then I HAVE to get some sleep. I'll work on my test review tomorrow. Maybe I can get Inuya…"_

Suddenly she was wide awake. Inuyasha was sitting stiffly beside her, his cup of noodles forgotten. A soul stealer was in their camp.

Insecurity. Hurt. Dread. Fear. Anger. Sorrow. More insecurity. All these feelings returned, as they always did when she saw the soul stealers, making her sick to her stomach. She could feel herself closing up inside. She turned her head so she wouldn't have to see Inuyasha leaving her.

"Go on," she whispered harshly when she didn't hear him move, "She's waiting for you." Her voice caught, and she prayed that the tears wouldn't fall yet. Not until he was gone.

A part of her felt that this was even worse than having Naraku attack. Another part of her felt guilty for thinking that, but it didn't make it any less true.

No one made a sound. The only thing she could hear was the ghostly soul stealer flying nearby and her own heavy heartbeat. She couldn't even hear anyone breathing. Were they all holding their breath too? Then… to her surprise… she heard slurping.

She turned her head to see Inuyasha back to inhaling his ramen.

"Inuyasha… aren't you… um… going…?" _Stupid stupid Kagome! Just throw them a wedding shower why don't you!_

Tipping his cup up, he drained the rest of the contents. He tapped on the bottom to get one last stray noodle. Carelessly he tossed the empty container over his shoulder and reached for the second cup that Kagome made him.

"Inuyasha… Kik…"

"I'm not going," he interrupted her quickly, then turned his attention back to his food.

"But…"

He slammed down his cup and glared at it sitting in front of him. "When was the last time I went to see her, Kagome? When?"

"But… you always say, you know, in case she has information on Naraku or just to see if she's okay or…"

"Do you WANT me to go?"

"I…"

With a growl he stood up. "Fine. I'll go."

_Kagome you complete MORON!_ Quickly she jumped to her feet. "Wait! That's not what I meant! I just thought…"

Once again he interrupted her. But this time he stopped her when he grabbed her hand and gave it a sharp yank. "Come with me." It wasn't a question or even a request. It was a demand. He stomped off into the woods and was dragging her behind him.

Sleep was forgotten as she raced to keep up with Inuyasha, who had yet to relinquish her hand. Not that she minded. In fact, she wasn't about to do anything that was going to remind him that he was still holding on to her. No telling when the shy hanyou would drop it and go into another embarrassed sulk.

They didn't have very far to go far. The soul stealer's mistress was not far away from their camp. The miko of clay and bones raised an eyebrow at seeing Inuyasha's hand firmly around her reincarnation's. Kagome also didn't miss the look that only a woman, even an undead one, gives another woman when taking in her ragged clothing, sloppy hair, and general grubbiness.

"There are rumors of a child."

"Any news of Naraku?" asked Inuyasha gruffly.

"No. What are you doing with…"

Without another word Inuyasha turned and started dragging a very confused Kagome along behind him. She was practically tripping over her own feet to keep up with him. She also realized the had not given up her hand yet.

_That was it?_ It took a few seconds of complete befuddlement, but then she began to smile. _That was it!_

Then she laughed out loud, suddenly giddy, startling the dog demon into stopping and dropping her hand. He cocked his head to the side, probably to determine whether or not she had gone off the deep end and dove headfirst into insanity. She twirled in a pirouette with her arms spread wide and laughed again. Inuyasha's lips quirked up into a smile.

Kagome couldn't stop herself. She launched herself into his arms and pressed her lips to his cheek. She was far too happy to be embarrassed. All the way back to camp she practically danced.

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Sometimes life does funny things. For example, sometimes the things you fear the most will happen happens. You have a choice, let it destroy you, or stand and fight. Sometimes fighting works, sometimes it doesn't, but at least you know you tried. And sometimes you just have to have faith in others. 

I'm sad to say that I don't always have faith in the people I should and I'm not always a fighter. What's worse is that sometimes the things that are most important are the things that I most afraid of fighting for. 

Why is that? I wonder if it's human nature or if I'm just messed up and determined to sabotage my potential happiness.

Not literally fighting of course, I mean, it's not like we live in the feudal ages or anything where people fight all the time. Heh. Metaphorically speaking I mean. Like fighting for top grades or for a really good job or for the last chicken nugget.

While doing this project I'm learning a lot about myself as well as the people around me. I wish I could say that I'm just finding out good stuff like how strong I am and that I can take on any challenge or stuff like that. However, I'm finding out not so great stuff too. Like how I really do depend on others, maybe too much. And that I have a serious problem with jealousy. Not to mention that sometimes when I'm grumpy I occasionally take it out on others. 

Part of what I'm learning is what it's like to be responsible for another human being (sort of). But the other part is that I'm learning how to cope with stress. Oh yeah, and how to survive on an hour of sleep a week.

This stupid journal is making me think too much.

Kagome Higurashi

P.S. If I do end up going insane, I'm leaving instructions with my mother to use this journal to use against you in the court of law. Just thought you should know.

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Author's Notes:

Thank you all for your reviews. I can't tell you how happy they made me. You guys are great! Originally I hadn't planned on putting Naraku in this story, or Kikyo, since I thought they would add too much angst to a light hearted story. But the reviews I've been getting convinced me to put him in the story. I decided to add Kikyo (very briefly) as well to get all the most unwelcome visitors to visit in one day (poor Kagome).


	12. Culture Clash

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Eleven: Culture Clash

Day Twenty-One –

I decided that I should take Mikomi on an outing to get a little culture. After all, all kids should be exposed to art. It broadens their horizons and helps to encourage their creativity and cognitive thinking skills. That and it's a part of the assignment.

As much fun as it was to have people shaking their heads sadly at me and whispering about me being a baby having a baby, the most fun was touring places I don't usually think to go to. I had forgotten how much fun art museums can be, especially when you are taking someone who has never been there before.

Kagome snickered as the blushing dog demon turned away from her muttering something about perverts that she didn't quite catch.

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Even though she was sitting on the curb of a sidewalk after being thrown out of the zoo by some angry security guys, Kagome was in a wonderful mood. She was still on cloud nine after the very short meeting with the undead miko a couple of days ago. She couldn't stop the silly grin when she thought about how reluctant he was to go to the meeting in the first place and how he kept it as brief as possible. Not to mention that the look on her face had been absolutely priceless! _Maybe… maybe he really does… love…_

"Oi, what are you smiling about? Those idiots just kicked us out!"

Kagome looked up at the adorably pouting hanyou and tried desperately not to grin. "Well, you shouldn't have been teasing those wolves like that. Especially when the zookeeper warned you not to. Twice."

"Lousy stupid wolves." He grumbled. "Glad they are in a stinkin' cage… serves them right… scrawny no good…" He stopped and looked at Kagome curiously before sinking down onto his heels, squatting beside her and nudging her shoulder for attention. "Why aren't you mad?"

"Just in a good mood, I guess," she grinned at him. "I'm sure if I try I can work up a little anger though if it will make you feel better."

"Feh."

"Besides," she said as she stood up, stretching her arms above her head, "We spent enough time there already. We've got pictures and ticket stubs and brochures and everything. Plus I took some notes, so it was time to go anyhow."

Inuyasha sighed tiredly as he turned Kagome around and checked the straps that were holding Mikomi on. They were snug enough, so he turned her back to face him. "Where now or are we done?"

"Home. We need to change before we go to the museum."

"Why? What's wrong with what we're wearing?"

Kagome looked at the blue jeans that her brother and grandfather managed to force him into and one of her red uni-sex tee shirts that fit rather snugly on his torso. With the red baseball cap hiding his ears he almost looked like a regular boy. A regular gorgeous silver haired golden eyed sharp nailed boy with fangs… but it was close enough.

"Nothing," she said in what she hoped was a normal voice and praying that he didn't notice she was checking him out, "But we're taking pictures, and I'd rather the teacher didn't think that we did all of our cultural kind of stuff in one day, you know."

"But we are."

"But she doesn't have to KNOW that."

They argued all the way back to the shrine about the morality of falsely presenting information, regardless of whether or not she was actually lying to the teacher. Really Inuyasha didn't care. In fact, he thought it was rather clever of her. But arguing with her was too big of a temptation to pass up. It was fun!

"It's the same as lying."

"No it's not! It's just a… a…"

"See? A lie."

"It is not! It's just a lack of full disclosure."

They were still arguing as they walked up the stairs. He leaned against her bedroom door and listened to her from the other side as she changed clothes and continued to defend her position on the subject. He could tell that Kagome wasn't really mad. It wasn't just that he had a good sense of smell and could detect when she was angry. EVERYONE knew when Kagome was angry. The flames shooting out of her eyes and seemed to engulf her was a really big clue.

Quickly he moved from the door just before she opened it. His eyes warmed at the sight of her. She had changed from a plain yellow t-shirt and jeans shorts to a light blue flowery sundress.

Kagome couldn't remember what they were arguing about when he was looking at her that way. So she just smiled at him.

"You need to at least change your shirt," she told him, holding up a black tee shirt.

He grabbed the shirt and yanked off the one he was wearing. Kagome squealed and quickly turned around.

"You could have changed in my room or the bathroom for privacy, idiot!"

She could almost hear him smirk. "Why? It's not like you haven't seen…"

"Ack! That's different!" She put her hand over her eyes and turned around to face his direction as she used her scolding voice on him. "That's just to put on bandages or ointment or something!"

She was sure he was still smirking. _Can you hear a smirk?_ It was in his voice. "That's not the only times. You've seen me without anything at all…"

"Ack! Those were accidents!"

"How many times?"

"Every one an accident!"

"Hmm."

Slowly he peeled her fingers away from her eyes. She was relieved to see that he was wearing the black tee shirt. Not so thrilled to see that he was barely restraining to keep from laughing. Then again, it was nice to see him laugh. Grinning she poked him in the ribs and let out a laugh of her own.

"C'mon, my little stripper, let's go see some art."

"Stripper?"

Kagome took his hand and pulled him down the stairs. After getting some money from her mother and kissing her good-bye, the two of them (three counting Mikomi) left to head downtown. They hadn't gotten very far when Kagome stopped near a bench on the sidewalk and sat down.

"You can't be tired already, wench!"

"I'm not"

"I'm hungry."

"Oh, quit whining. We'll eat downtown someplace culturyish."

Inuyasha cocked his head to one side and looked down at her. "It that even a word?"

"It is now."

"Oi, you can't just make up words!"

"Sure I can."

He glared at her. "You try to confuse me on purpose," he accused. The giggle he got in return didn't help his mood much.

The impatient dog demon tapped his foot. "Why are we just standing here anyhow?"

Kagome forced a smile on her face as two more people stood to stand with them. "We are waiting for the bus, Inuyasha."

He gave her a disgusted look. "I can get us there faster than a stupid bus. Safer. And it won't smell so awful either."

Kagome snorted at the last comment. The look he gave her dared her to say anything about it.

"It's all a part of the experience, Inuyasha. Plus I can use the ticket stubs for my scrapbook for the assignment. You don't have to come if you're going to hate it that much. I can go by myself." She paused, then looked away so he couldn't see her face. "Alone. I'm sure that no strange men will bother me or anything. I'm sure I'll be perfectly safe. Not THAT many girls get kidnapped or murdered or …"

"I SAID I'D GO!" he snapped.

Kagome smiled to herself as he unconsciously stood a little closer to her, eyeing each person around them like potential enemies. She wondered if she might have gone a little too far when Inuyasha threatened to gouge out a man's eyes if he didn't stop looking at her. _Maybe just a bit…_ She felt a little bad about the emotional manipulation, though she suspected that he knew what she was doing. She wasn't sure if she felt better about that or worse.

The bus ride was no picnic either. Inuyasha snarled at anyone who even breathed in her general direction. People scrambled off the vehicle at every stop like it was on fire. Eventually Kagome and Inuyasha had the back half all to themselves. The bus driver breathed a heavy sigh of relief when they stood up to get off in front of the museum. It was the first time Kagome ever saw a bus burn rubber.

"We're not riding that thing back," Inuyasha told her, looking entirely too feral. The bus ride had been a wee bit stressful for the dog demon.

"Calm down, dog boy," she said as she pat the top of his head. "We won't ride it back."

"I'm not a dog," he grumbled, though Kagome noticed he didn't move away from the head patting. "And I'm still hungry."

"There's a café inside of the museum," Kagome told him. "They have tea, cakes, little sandwiches and salads." She pictured Inuyasha having tea and cakes and laughed so hard she literally fell over.

"What's so amusing, wench?" His glare only set her off into more giggles. "Nothing is THAT funny."

However, visions of him at a girly tea party complete with flower hats and dainty petits fours and scones had her clutching her sides as her laughter tripled in force. The funnier the looks he gave her the funnier the picture in her head got.

The laughter stopped when Inuyasha hauled her up and held her in the air to look her right in the eye. Suddenly she couldn't remember why she was laughing.

"Kagome!"

Hearing her name being screamed broke the spell she was under. She look across the street and saw her friends from school.

"Too late to hide," she whispered to herself.

Inuyasha was chuckling, actually CHUCKLING, as he set her back down on her feet. "She doesn't back down from demons, but she trembles for three scrawny females."

"And a boy," she corrected him as a familiar face followed the three girls across the street towards them. When she heard Inuyasha start to growl she nudged him in the ribs. "Be nice, Inuyasha. I mean it."

Grrrrrr….

"Is that your baby, Higurashi?" asked the boy.

When the boy stepped too close to Kagome, Inuyasha reached for his sword, only to remember belatedly that he was forced to leave it at home… er… Kagome's home. Before he could use his claws the shred the boy up a bit, Kagome held up the doll for the others to see.

"We named her Mikomi," she said proudly.

"We?" asked the boy as the girls cooed at the dress Kagome insisted the baby wear. It was a frilly pale yellow dress with lots of lace and… oops, getting off the subject of the boy about to get his head ripped off for giving Inuyasha a skeptical look.

"Yes… WE." Inuyasha folded his hands in front of his chest angrily and glared at him.

Kagome gave a nervous laugh. "Heh heh… you guys remember Inuyasha don't you?"

The girls thought about it for a moment. Eri was the one who finally spoke up. "Isn't he that two-timing, arrogant, lecherous, violent, hot tempered boy-friend of yours?"

"WHAT?" Inuyasha glared at Kagome.

"He wasn't the lecherous one, Eri. That was someone else."

"Ohhhh."

The group decided, well, ok, Eri and Yuka decided, that they should go grab lunch together at WacDonalds. Inuyasha would have protested if he hadn't been so hungry. Of course the boy with the sandy hair (though Inuyasha felt it was more mud colored) sat next to Kagome. But somehow Hojo ended up scooted on the floor, accidently of course, and had to sit next to Yuka at the end of the rounded booth.

"You know," the muddy haired boy said while looking at Kagome with a smile, "Our babies look so similar that they could be twins. Maybe they are siblings."

Inuyasha shot down that theory in the most violently verbal way any of them had ever heard. That included Kagome too, who thought she had heard just about everything. She was glad that Shippo wasn't here, the kit didn't need any more words or phrases to add to his growing collection. The only reason Inuyasha hadn't actually leapt over the table to do a little flesh ripping was because Kagome was holding his hand in a death grip. Plus it was being held captive on her leg, so he decided to stick with a purely verbal assault.

The group was unusually quiet after he got in his last word/threat/promise of death, at least until the burgers and fries came. The girls quickly recovered as soon as they bit down into the first deep fried meat product carbohydrate laden meal. Yum.

"We're taking our babies to the museum," Eri told Kagome as she stuffed two fries into her mouth. "You want to come with us?"

"Well, Inuyasha and I were going to go to the museum by ourselves and look around."

"That's okay," said Yuka, "We don't mind if he tags along."

Grrrrr…. "Tags along?" Kagome grabbed and trapped his hand again. The decibel level of the growling dropped, but only a bit.

Kagome had never been one that was good at telling her friend's no. By the time lunch was over she had been bullied and cajoled into agreeing that they would all go together. She was surprised that Inuyasha didn't put up a bigger fight about it.

It was kind of fun hanging out with her friends… for about five minutes. Girls who fight demons and save villages don't have as much interest in the latest gossip of what celebrity was getting married-divorced-having babies. They also didn't have great interests in shoes, at least the impractical could never outrun a demon high heeled shoes that cost five hundred bucks. That's a lot of ramen.

They bought their tickets and picked up brochures (more proof that they went for the scrapbook). The first stop was looking at historical artifacts. The guards, and Kagome's friends, gave him some unhappy looks when he laughed at many of the items.

"Do you know what that pot was used for?"

"No Inuyasha. And I don't want to know either."

The dog demon shook his head at the things that people were ooohing and aahhing over. It just didn't make sense.

"It's just junk!" Inuyasha complained.

Hojo turned to him with a tight smile. "These are priceless artifacts."

Fuzzy ears twitched. "Priceless?" He turned to Kagome. "How much do you think this junk is worth?"

Kagome shrugged. "Thousands?"

"Hundreds of thousands," Hojo corrected gently. "Most of them are probably worth much more than that. Millions."

Inuyasha rolled the beads from his rosary between his fingers. "Wonder how much this thing is worth," he wondered out loud.

"Don't even think about it, dog boy."

The others moved on to the next vase to inspect. The gears between his ears started to click away. He tugged on Kagome's hand to keep her from joining her friends.

"You can bring things through the well, right?"

"Yeah. I do it all the time." She looked down at the hand on her arm as stealthily as possible. It was warm. That squishy feeling came back. She was glad that the others were far enough away that they couldn't see her blushing.

"If you brought something back with you could you sell it?"

Kagome looked away from the hand resting on her and looked into his eyes. They were intense… and hopeful. Obviously he was waiting for a response. What was it he asked her again? Something about bringing stuff back from the past. Was he thinking of selling things? How much would a vase in perfect almost new condition from the feudal ages be worth? Her eyes opened wide.

"Inuyasha… you're… you're… BRILLIANT!" She glomped a hug around his middle and started jumping up and down without any of her next words making any sense.

"Keh, I could have told you that."

Her joyous squealing was cut off by an irate curator and several grumpy patrons. It was difficult to keep from bouncing through the rest of the exhibit. Seeing the pieces in the glass cases held a whole new meaning as they looked around. Kagome wondered if they had any sort of technical dating equipment that would make selling the pieces difficult. I mean, even if it came from five hundred years ago, would it show that it was only a few days or months old? Would they be better off hiding their loot to be found in this time? Or should they look for certain people who are famous in this time and seek them out for stuff? Kagome decided that maybe she should spend some more time studying history and maybe antiques.

Suddenly Inuyasha was taken away from her.

"You'll find this one interesting, Inuyasha," Eri told him as she pointed to an old painted scroll.

"Yes," agreed Hojo. "After all, you were likely named for it." Kagome began paying attention so the young man launched into a short history lesson. "This is a depiction of one of the lesser gods, the dog god. He was said to be a master of the sword and merciless with his enemies. He had power over not only humans, but other gods as well."

Kagome peeked at the scroll closely, paying close attention to the two appendages on the top of the god's head.

"What was his name?" she asked reluctantly.

Hojo smiled brightly at her. "Why, Inuyasha, of course!"

"Hear that, Kagome? I'm a god!"

"No no, you were just named after one," corrected Hojo. Inuyasha just smirked in reply, Kagome groaned. She decided to pretend she didn't hear a thing and turned her attention back to planning how to make their fortune.

Fun as it was to start thinking about how she would be spending her potential newfound wealth, they reached the end of the historical exhibit. The group was torn between checking out the modern art or the classical. Eri decided on the modern art and began dragging her friends away.

That's where Kagome and Inuyasha ditched them.

Besides the fact that Inuyasha was already getting antsy being around her friends for so long, Kagome wasn't so sure that the modern art exhibit would be the best place for a rather consertive half dog demon. Classical art would surely be a better choice. So when her friends turned right, Kagome turned left. It surprised her just a little bit that she didn't feel even a smidgen of guilt about it.

Under each painting the artist's name was listed, along with the title of the piece and a little bit of history behind it. Kagome read each of the plaques to a very uninterested hanyou. He didn't try to hide his boredom and often showed off his fangs with loud and long bone cracking yawns.

As Kagome began reading the title of another painting she heard a strangled sound behind her. Panicked she whipped around. Inuyasha was crouched on the floor with his hands over his eyes. Kagome looked around for the source of his distress but couldn't find a thing. There were just paintings. Nothing weird or hideous or freaky. Just nice classical art.

"THAT WOMAN IS NAKED!"

Sure enough, the painting was a tastefully done nude. Kagome couldn't help but giggle. Crouching beside him she began pulling his fingers away from his eyes.

"It's art, Inuyasha. It's a thing of beauty. It shows a freedom of movement and expression. Just the body language alone tells a story that you couldn't put into words."

"IT'S PERVERTED!"

Kagome tried to explain about the human body and art. There was nothing perverted about it. Eventually she got him to open his eyes, but he refused to look at the painting again. Or any of the others that portrayed unclothed ladies. Kagome rolled her eyes and led him to the next section. Sculptures.

"No more paintings," she told the hanyou cheerfully.

"Good. Buncha perverteAAAAAAAKKKKKK!"

Suddenly the world went dark for Kagome and she sighed heavily. It wasn't surprising. She expected it really.

"That's a naked MAN, Kagome! A NAKED man!" he growled at her with his hand firmly over her eyes. "You can see his… his… he ain't got nuthin' on!"

Kagome giggled as she tugged on his wrist in a futile attempt to get her eyesight back. "I can't see anything," she reminded him while tapping on his fingers. "At least not anymore. Don't get so worked up, Inuyasha. It's art. The human body is a beautiful thing that artists have been…"

"He's NAKED!"

"Seriously, Inuyasha, it's nothing to get worked up about."

The next thing she heard was a snarl. Then she felt her feet leave the floor as she was spun around back towards the exit.

"We're getting out of this place!"

Movement stopped for a moment and Kagome could hear Inuyasha sniffing the air. She guessed that he was trying to determine the quickest way out of the museum.

"Higurashi!" Oh goody, her friends arrived.

"Hi guys," Kagome said cheerfully as if she wasn't being held in the air with a hand over her eyes.

"We must have had a miscommunication," said Hojo. "But I'm glad we found each other again." There was a slight pause. "What a beautiful painting. The brush strokes are amazing, don't you think?"

Ignoring the mutterings about perverts coming from behind her Kagome responded, "Yes, it is lovely. It's amazing that they can take a bunch of paint and turn it into something like that. I can't even imagine how they could do that. It is truly awe inspiring." In a quiet whisper she hissed, "Can you uncover my eyes please?"

"No."

She could hear Hojo clear his throat and the three girls giggling. Kagome recognized that sound. This wasn't going to be good.

"There is a new exhibit opening next week if you would like to go with me, Higurashi."

"You… you want to take KAGOME to another one of these… these…." Everything else was pretty much a series of growls and snarls. It was understood by MOST of them that this was his way of saying that she highly unlikely that she would be accompanying him any time in the near future. Or ever, really.

"I'm sorry, Hojo, but…" as luck would have it, Mikomi started screaming her lungs out. She felt Inuyasha take the baby from her pack and start pressing buttons until she quieted down. This was quite the feat since he still hand one hand over her eyes.

It is possible that the babies were programmed to respond to each other, because Hojo's baby began crying as well.

"I think we have more than enough here for the scrapbook," Kagome announced. "I think we're going to go."

"What about the movies? Or karaoke! I know how much you love to sing! We can hang out for the rest of the day."

"I dunno, Eri. I still need to work on the assignment. I'm so far behind in all my homework. I really need to catch up."

"Hojo could help you," Yuka volunteered.

"No." That's all her over protective dog demon friend said before Kagome found herself practically in flight. She wondered if he had forgotten that he was still covering her eyes.

"We can't just leave without saying good-bye."

"Feh."

"Take me back, Inuyasha."

"No."

"Take me back now!"

He chuckled. "You can't tell me what to do. I'm a god."

"Your a ... oh for the love of..."

"...Inuyasha," he finished her sentence for her with a smirk as he continued to bound away back to the shrine.

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Sometimes friends are a blessing, and sometimes they are a curse. 

It's sad when you realize that you are growing apart from your friends, though. Values change. They change. You change. People you used to be close to are suddenly people you have to force yourself to be around. Sometimes they are reminders of a time gone by. It's like they are the memories in a way. Though often they are reminders of how life has changed and how you have changed.

I can't believe I have about a week to go on this assignment. I wonder what it is going to be like to sleep again. Through a whole entire night! I don't know about anyone else, but I plan on sleeping for three days straight when this is over.

I have to admit that there are some things that I'm really going to miss about it though. I've kind of liked the feeling of having my own family. 

My mom panicked when I told her that, by the way. So now I have to deal with THE embarrassing talk and her forcing me down THAT aisle in the pharmacy. Of course you realize I blame you for that. The only bright side of that was that she made a guy friend of mine go with me. To get back at her for making me go through that torture I made her tell him exactly what the products were for. 

I didn't know anyone could turn that shade of red. Thank goodness I still had my camera with me.

Kagome Higurashi

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Author's Notes:

Thank you guys so much for the reviews. I always love reading them. Okay, some of them I re-read. Thanks to y'all there are more a few more chapters added than I originally intended.


	13. Just The Way You Are

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Thirteen: Just The Way You Are

Day Twenty – Two

There are some days I look at Mikomi and think about how great it would be to have a baby of my own. I can live without sleep, right? Besides, I wouldn't be doing it all alone. This assignment has shown me that I can do it. I can raise a baby. I can protect it from hunger and cold and demon attacks. Ha ha, that was just a figure of speech. The demon thing I mean.

Then there are days when I think that there is no way I want to be responsible for another life. How scary is it that from the moment of conception every single decision I make, including what I eat, is going to affect my child? What if I mess the kid up and it grows up to be an ax murderer? What if I fail to protect it? What if I protect it too much and it never learns to fight and be strong on its own?

What if I do end up being alone? Any sleep I've had has been through the grace of the people around me who care about me. But what if something happens and I can't reach them anymore and they can't reach me?

Thanks a heap for making me one big mass of insecurity. I'm barely hanging on to my sanity by a thread.

Kagome tapped her pencil on the paper as she glanced over at her companion sleeping on her bed. Considering all the emotional turmoil she'd been through, it just didn't seem fair that he could snooze so peacefully.

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"You're MEAN! I don't know how Inuyasha can STAND you!" screamed Souta as he slammed the door.

It wasn't the first time her brother yelled that particular phrase at her whenever she booted him out of the room.

Earlier Inuyasha had taken Mikomi for a run so that she could concentrate on her homework. In fact, he had watched her all day so that she could even go to school. Okay, so he watched her from a tree in the school yard while growling at some of her classmates, but she still went to class so she was happy.

Once she got home she got to work on her assignments so they could go back home to the feudal era. Her mother promised to take the completed work to school for her and drop it off. It had surprised her when Inuyasha offered to take the baby so she could work, though she was grateful. But while she was trying to concentrate on her homework Souta kept coming in to pester her. Once again she lost her temper and yelled at him to get out of her room and leave her alone. Fighting with her little brother was normal.

But this time it felt different. Maybe it was because the project had started making her think about having a family of her own, and there was no one else she could imagine except for Inuyasha. They were tied together as traveling companions because they had to hunt the jewel. But what would happen when it is completed?

Long ago she told him that she would stay with him for as long as he let her. At the time he didn't seem to mind, had even held her hand as they walked towards the village. Did he think she meant that she'd stay with him for only as long as they were searching for the jewel?

It wouldn't be long until he wouldn't need her. Then what? Would he make her go home? Would he go with Kikyo?

Kagome dropped her forehead onto her open book, her math homework forgotten.

_Kikyo. I bet she never fought with him or yelled at him or called him an idiot. How does he stand to be with me? Am I really an ogre?_ She cringed as she thought about how she yelled at him and said the "s" word just last night for something that was really stupid, she couldn't even remember what it was. _ I am an ogre. I really am. What is wrong with me?_

The assignment was making her ask the question 'what if?' on a daily basis. _What if Mikomi really was my baby? What if Inuyasha and I had a family of our own? What if …_ Kagome shook her head. _There's no way._ She chewed on the eraser of her pencil. _Why would he want to be with someone like me?_

There was no doubt about it. When the jewel is complete it only made sense that Inuyasha would wish to be with Kikyo. It was stupid to think anything different. Sure he had promised to stay a half demon for her, that that had been long ago. How many times had she sat him since then? Besides, he did say "for a little while longer". He never promised her forever.

Forever is promised to someone else.

"Oi, wench, why are you cryin'?"

Startled Kagome turned towards the window. There he sat crouched on her window sill, puppy ears and all. Mikomi was tucked safely in the cradle of his arms. The thought if it being the baby they would never have brought even more tears flooding down her face.

"I'm not crying."

Inuyasha glared at her as he stood up and walked towards her, dropping the doll on the bed on his way. He ran a clawed finger down her wet cheek. "No? Then what's all this salt water?"

Furiously Kagome rubbed her eyes and cheeks. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"What's wrong?" Did he have to sound so concerned? It just made her heart ache worse.

"Nothing is wrong."

"Don't lie to me, Kagome."

"Leave it alone, Inuyasha."

"Tell me."

"No."

"TELL ME!" he roared.

Glaring at him she jumped to her feet with her hands in fists, she opened her mouth to scream the word. But it died on her lips. She was horrified that she almost said it. _Why? Why was I even going to say it? Because he was concerned?_ Ashamed she turned away from him. It hurt to see him bracing himself for impact.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

Strong hands gripped her firmly and turned her around slowly. Golden eyes were stern and serious. And very worried. He lifted her up so that she her feet dangled off the floor and she was nose to nose with him.

He cursed softly. "Tell me, Kagome. You have to tell me. What's wrong?"

The desperation in his voice tore at her heart. She wanted to look away, but she couldn't. It was cowardly and childish. He deserved better than a whispered apology and vague answers.

"Did Kikyo ever yell at you?" It wasn't what she meant to say at all. Usually she tried to never mention the dead miko's name. Kagome realized that Inuyasha didn't either. Yet another thing he protected her from while she seemed determined to make him miserable with her impression of a screaming banshee. _How can he not hate me?_

Instantly Inuyasha set her back on the floor, but he didn't let her go. "What are you talking about?"

"Did she ever yell at you?"

He thought about it for a moment. "Yes. Once."

"Once?"

"When she thought I'd betrayed her and she was shooting an arrow into my heart."

Kagome almost laughed. The ONLY time Kikyo had yelled at him was when she was pinning him to the tree. _I, on the other hand, yelled at him more times on that first day when we met than the entire time he knew Kikyo._ She didn't know that she had voiced that out loud, so it startled her when Inuyasha spoke.

"So what?"

"Huh?"

He glared at her. "So what if you yelled at me?"

Suddenly the misery seemed to double. _He is so used to me yelling at him that he doesn't think anything of it. _

"Because I shouldn't be yelling at you and saying s-i-t all the time. It's wrong. It's mean. I'm mean." She ignored the tears streaking down her face again. "I'm so so sorry, Inuyasha."

Red clad arms pulled her close and wrapped around her. She tried to pull away again, but he wouldn't let her. He held her while she cried and struggled. He held her as she sobbed out more apologies. Somewhere in her babbles she voiced all of her fears. She didn't want him to leave with Kikyo. She didn't want him to hate her. She didn't want to be an ogre. She might have even mentioned that she loved him, but she wasn't sure. She hoped she didn't let that slip.

Eventually sanity returned to her and her mouth snapped shut and her sobbing turned to sniffles. After a moment Inuyasha tightened his hold on her, then pushed her back to arms length.

"What are you, a moron?"

Okay, so maybe comforting a crying woman wasn't quite his forte. It did, however, stop the tears.

"Huh?"

"You yell at me, I yell at you. It's what we do." He shrugged. "You yell, but you aren't mean. Have you ever said anything to hurt me on purpose?" He didn't give her time to answer. "No. You don't. You're not an ogre, Kagome. Stop being an idiot."

He pulled her over to the bed and forced her to sit down. He made sure that he didn't squish the doll as he sat next to her.

"But… Kikyo would never have…"

The glare he gave her was heated. "Never what? Accept me for who I am? Trust me? Love me?" He blushed, but didn't look away. "No, she wouldn't. She wanted me human. How could she love a hanyou? An abomination?"

Fire returned to Kagome's eyes as she returned his glare and clutched at his silver hair and brought his face close to hers. "You are NOT an abomination!"

The dog demon smirked, but didn't try to pry her hands away from his hair. "Do you remember the night when Kaguya took you to her castle?"

Kagome smiled. "How could I forget?" She remembered the arrow piercing her back as she tried to protect her protector. She remembered being held captive while Kaguya attempted to steal Inuyasha's human side in her mirror. But most of all, Kagome remembered the kiss. Her cheeks turned pink.

"Keh," Inuyasha said sporting a blush of his own. "Before THAT, wench. Remember when we sat by the campfire? What did you tell me?"

Kagome let go of his hair and bit her lip as she thought back to that evening. She and Inuyasha were sitting by the fire. She had asked him if he was going to wish to turn into a full demon. And she told him…

"I like you the way you are."

Inuyasha nodded. "You said you liked me the way that I was. You didn't want me to change."

"You're perfect the way you are."

He couldn't help but smile. Nudging her hand with his own he waited for Kagome to hold it. He wasn't disappointed as their fingers intertwined.

"So are you. I like you just the way you are, Kagome."

She blinked rapidly in surprise. "Really?"

"Quit fishin' for more compliments, wench." He let her rest her head against his shoulder as he looked away.

_He likes me the way I am._ She grinned and squeezed his hand tightly. _Maybe… maybe there is a chance after all._ She looked down at Mikomi and allowed herself to dream.

"What happened anyhow?" he asked.

Kagome explained about her brother's comment. Inuyasha growled, tugged his hand away from hers, and disappeared from her room. She heard him roar out her brother's name and stomp down the hall to find him. Voices were raised.

By the time she decided that she should go save her little brother the voices quieted. Creeping out her door she tiptoed down towards Souta's room. The voices were muffled. When she heard footsteps coming back to the door she dashed for her room. She knew Inuyasha would know she had been spying thanks to his sensitive nose and cute puppy dog ears, but she would prefer that her brother didn't know. Quickly she snatched up the doll and began bouncing her on her knee.

When Inuyasha came back in her room she was trying to look like she had spent the entire time playing with the baby.

"Have a nice talk?" she asked without looking up.

"Yeah, he explained things to me."

_Explained things?_ Kagome turned to look at the blushing hanyou. "Just what exactly did Souta explain to you?"

"He said you were just PMS-ing, so it's okay."

"What?"

Inuyasha looked away from her. "He says it makes you irritable and irrational."

"WHAT?"

He was beginning to look a little nervous now instead of embarrassed. "He said it turns you crazy for a few days… but that it was normal..."

"WHAAAAT?"

When Inuyasha glanced at her the miko was practically engulfed in flames of rage. "Uh… something about woman cycles and stuff… like your mom said about havin' pups and… uh… with the stuff… and…body changes… hormones… uh…" Frantically he looked for an escape route. "Souta said you go… um…"

"SIT!"

She screamed, "SOUTA, YOU ARE SO DEAD!" She turned back to the hanyou face down on the floor and twitching. "SIT SIT SIT!"

Then she threw open her door to find her younger brother and explain a few things to him.

Painfully.

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I worry a lot about the future. I always have. Unfortunately I found that sleep deprivation makes people think and do stupid things. You end up saying things you didn't really want to say. Or at least you didn't want anyone to hear you say, which is practically the same thing.

Plus it makes you really cranky. And the headaches! 

Since the rest of the school knows we're doing this project you would think that they would cut down on the assignments a little. 

We, the students, suspect that you, the teachers, have gotten together to torture us. We figure that you are trying to break our wills until we succumb to your demands. Can't you just tell us what your demands are? Wouldn't that be easier and less sadistic than this torture?

If we were cute fuzzy animals instead of high school students the ASPCA or PETA would shut you down so fast your head would spin.

Kagome Higurashi


	14. Bedtime Stories and Babysitters

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Fourteen: Bedtime Stories and Babysitters

Day Twenty – Four

Less than a week left of the assignment. I'm beginning to wonder what life without a constant migraine feels like. Not to mention that a full night's sleep seems like something from a fairy-tale.

And speaking of fairy-tales, as per instruction, I've put together a list of bedtime stories and lullabies for Mikomi. I had a little help picking out the best ones.

I also put together the list to give to a babysitter. That was a little more challenging once I started asking the opinions of what should go on the list of the other members of my little family.

Kagome picked up yet another balled up piece of paper and tossed it into the fire. The lists weren't quite ready yet. She wondered if she would ever get it all finished. With the help of her friends... well... maybe an incomplete list wouldn't drop her grade too much...

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"Let go!"

"No!"

"Let GO!"

"NO!"

"Inuyasha LET GO NOW!"

"Get OFF me, wench!"

Shippo took the lollipop out of his mouth and snickered at the loud growls that were not coming from the dog demon, but rather the miko. He heard Sango sigh heavily and turned to the humans behind him.

"Why is Kagome trying to strangle Inuyasha?" asked the kit.

Sango huffed. "Because he is an idiot."

"He's always been an idiot, but she's never tried strangling him before." Not that the kit was complaining. A soft click sound caught his attention and he picked up Mikomi and pressed one of her buttons. Yesterday he realized he could hear the click right before she started wailing, so he started pushing buttons before she started making sounds. Of course, he wasn't going to tell anyone about his newfound knowledge. Inuyasha would make him stay up all night listening for clicks and whirrs.

The demon slayer looked uncomfortable as she sat down near the kit. "Well, he mentioned something that he shouldn't have mentioned the other day while they were on the other side of the well."

Shippo nodded. "PMS. I heard Kagome apologizing yesterday for getting so worked up about it. But why would that make her mad? What the heck is it?"

Sango cleared her throat, ignoring the curious look of the monk. "Every human woman has a monthly cycle," she tried not to blush under the scrutiny.

"He mentioned THAT?" Miroku laughed. "Kagome must really love Inuyasha if he is still alive!"

"This cycle is what makes it possible to have babies," explained Sango as she continued to ignore the monk. "It changes the hormonal balance of the woman while it is getting her body ready. And during this change, the woman sometimes feels pain or discomfort. There are other physical symptoms too. And sometimes that is what makes a woman's temper shorter than usual during this time."

Shippo nodded wisely. "Makes them insane."

"SHIPPO!" Sango scolded him while Miroku doubled up laughing.

"What? That's what Inuyasha said, not me!"

Making a mental note to never EVER say those three letters to any creature female, Shippo decided he would have a better view of the quarreling couple from Miroku's shoulder. He did, after all, have strong self-preservation instincts.

Watching the fight was much more entertaining than anything he had seen in a very long time, and safer than pursuing the current conversation with the irate demon slayer. Kagome had both hands around the rosary and her right foot braced on Inuyasha's stomach as she pulled with all her might. The angry hanyou was holding both of her wrists and trying to shake her loose.

"So… she's trying to kill him because he mentioned… uh… because he made her mad?"

Still chuckling, Miroku shook his head. "She's not trying to kill him, Shippo. She's trying to take off the rosary."

"WHAT?" Shippo's blood ran cold. Inuyasha without the subduing rosary. He would be kibble by nightfall. "Why would she do that to me?"

"OW, move your foot Kagome!"

"Then let GO!"

"Woman…" he warned, "MOVE your FOOT!"

Shippo sighed as Inuyasha fell over, taking the miko with him, when he tried to dislodge her. Kagome scrambled up to her knees, without taking her grip off the rosary. Quickly she jumped to her feet, straddling the fallen hanyou. With her knees bent she pulled up with all of her might. Shippo knew that Inuyasha could have knocked the girl down easily. But he didn't want to hurt her, which put him at a major disadvantage. The kit jumped from Miroku's shoulder after he made a suggestive comment about the situation, the bone boomerang would be making contact in seconds.

"She isn't doing it to you," Sango told him as she propped her weapon against a tree. She stepped over Miroku's prone body to pick up the kit. "She's doing it for Inuyasha. She wants him to be free."

"But how will she control him?"

Sango pat his head. "She doesn't want to control him, Shippo. He isn't a pet, and she worries that he will grow to hate her because she does have that control."

At that Shippo fell silent. He no longer knew who to root for in the scuffle. Inuyasha managed to crawl out from under Kagome and yanked the rosary from her grip. His pause in his moment of glory gave the girl enough time to jump onto his back and grab the rosary again. The hanyou cursed colorfully as he ended up spinning in circles to try to dislodge the girl. But he was careful. He was always careful with her. What would happen if Inuyasha really did start to hate her because she had the sit command?

"Why doesn't Inuyasha want her to take it off?"

Sango smiled softly. "The first day Kagome met Inuyasha, Kaede spelled the rosary to attach to Inuyasha and bonded him to Kagome."

"Yeah… so?"

"He has never been through the well without it. What if the rosary is what lets him go through the well? If she took it off he might not be able to go through. He wouldn't be able to go to Kagome."

Shippo bit his lip while he thought. There has to be a loophole somewhere to make everyone happy. Did Kagome just bite Inuyasha's hand? Ouch.

"What if Kaede took the spell off? That way when Kagome says 'sit' nothing would happen. Everyone wins!"

"What if it's that spell that binds him to her?"

Shippo sighed. "Sounds like you've been thinking about this a lot."

With a smile Sango shook her head then looked over to the fight where Kagome was screaming. Inuyasha had taken off her shoe and was tickling one of her feet with one hand, the other was busy trapping both of her wrists around his neck so she couldn't rip off the beads and fangs. "Not me. Inuyasha. He has been talking to Kaede."

"Then why would Kagome try to take off the rosary?"

"Do you really think she would be fighting him if she knew?"

Shippo sighed. "The idiot didn't tell her, did he?" He turned to look at Sango curiously. "You haven't told her either, have you?"

The woman snickered. "Are you kidding? And miss out on THIS entertainment? Not on your life!"

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1. Phone numbers: cell phone number, restaurant number, fire department and police numbers.

2. Offer the baby a bottle of milk every hour or two, only use the bottled milk in the refrigerator.

3. Give the baby food from the jar at noon or at seven p.m.

4. Change diapers as needed. Use baby powder.

5. First aid supplies in cabinet by the refrigerator, in the cabinet under the bathroom sink, in the master bedroom closet. and in the bottom drawer in the baby's dresser.

6. Feel free to eat snacks, watch television, or do homework.

Call me when:

1. Call if the baby cries for 20 or 30 minutes and you can't figure out why.

2. Call if the baby gets a fever, throws up, or gets hurt.

"What about demon attacks?" Sango asked. "Shouldn't you put that on the list?"

Kagome stopped writing and looked up. She wondered if she should have asked for their input. "Um… we don't really have all that many demons in my time."

"But there are some," Miroku said, "So it would be wise to include it on your list."

"I agree," said Shippo as he sucked up another ramen noodle.

"Me too." Inuyasha licked inside his ramen cup for one last time. "Put it on the list."

3. Call in case a demon attacks.

"Or dark mikos," added Sango as she fed some of her noodle juice to Kirara.

3. Call in case a demon attacks, or a dark miko.

"Or wild animals," said Shippo as he tossed his container over his shoulder, making sure it hit Inuyasha in the process. His ears twitched as the cup hit him in the head, but he was studiously ignoring it.

"Shippo… I don't think that…"

"Write it down." When Kagome didn't move her pencil, Inuyasha grabbed her hand and moved it for her. She rolled her eyes.

3. Call in case a demon attacks, or a dark miko, or wild animals.

Inuyasha frowned at the paper. He sat down next to Kagome and took her list. "Maybe we shouldn't leave the baby with anyone. Ever. It's too dangerous. No one can protect it like we can. It ain't safe." He grunted, crumpling up the paper and tossing it behind him before folding his arms across his chest. "We ain't leavin' it."

Sigh. "The assignment says that I have to make a list to leave for the babysitter."

"Ain't happenin'."

"But…"

"No."

"I'll fail!"

"Feh."

"I'll have to repeat the entire grade all over again. One more year of school."

Grunt. Grumble. Crinkle crinkle. "Keh." He tossed the now slightly rumpled but mostly straightened out list back to Kagome.

"Make sure the babysitter can cast a barrier, then."

Kagome blinked. _A barrier?_ "Inuyasha…"

"Write it down, Kagome. The only person we're leaving the baby with is someone who can cast a barrier."

"HEY!" Sango threw her empty cup at Inuyasha's head.

He sighed. "Or can slay demons." He looked over Kagome's shoulder. "You're not writing this down. Write it down." He glared at his friends. "And if one more person throws a cup at my head I'm going to shred you."

You must be able to slay demons or cast barriers.

"That's not one of those things to call about. I think that goes more under qualifications," Kagome said as she wrote the words towards the bottom of the page.

Inuyasha looked thoughtful. "Okay, that's number one then." He looked at the group. "We need more qualifications. That's not enough."

_I should really learn to keep my mouth shut,_ groaned Kagome as she wrote the word 'Qualifications' as another heading. She would have complained and refused to do it if it wasn't such a good idea.

1. You must be able to slay demons or cast barriers.

_Though_, she told herself, _I'll just have to do a little rewriting before I turn in the final list._ She doubted her teacher would take her seriously if she wrote down demon slaying as a requirement for babysitters and to call in case of dark mikos. Then again… who knows. Maybe she would get extra credit for being creative.

"Waaahhhhh!"

_Patience, Kagome. Have patience._ "What's wrong, Shippo?"

"I can't cast barriers and I'm not a demon slayer, but I can watch Mikomi as well as anyone!" He sniffled dramatically as he fed another spoonful of food to the doll. "See? Put down that the babysitter can be an illusion casting fox demon master too."

"No."

"Kagome! Inuyasha is being mean!"

"No! Ow! Quit biting me, you brat!" Inuyasha shook his arm to dislodge the pointy toothed kit, occasionally bonking him on the head. Mikomi took the opportunity to wail. "You're too young! We already have to babysit YOU!"

"Kagooomeeeeee!"

Fuzzy ears pinned to his skull as Inuyasha prepared himself for the sit command. When it didn't come, both he and Shippo looked at each other, then at Kagome. She was taking deep breaths and counting to ten quietly, over and over again as she tried to get the baby to stop crying.

"Inuyasha, don't hit Shippo." The kit smirked and the hanyou frowned. "Shippo, don't bite Inuyasha." The frown turned into a smirk of his own.

Once Mikomi stopped crying, after the diaper change, Kagome flipped through her papers to find her assignment. She scanned the page and nodded once she found what she was looking for.

"I think we'll give the babysitter list a break for now. We'll uh… work on it later." She took out a blank piece of paper and began writing.

"What are you working on now?" asked Miroku. "Is that another part of your assignment for Mikomi?"

Tempted as she was to lie, Kagome nodded.

"Well?" demanded Inuyasha. "What is it?"

Kagome's eye began to tick. She began counting again to keep her blood from boiling.

"Why does she keep counting?" Shippo asked Sango. The demon exterminator shrugged as she began getting her bedding ready.

"Why don't you ask her?"

"Because," whispered the kit, "Her eye is doing that funny twitching thing."

Kagome ignored her friends and continued to work on her assignment. A shadow with dog shaped ears fell over her paper. She sighed. He wasn't going to give up. Part of her was grateful that he wanted to help. The other part knew that every time he did, the others did too, and then it would just become a fiasco.

"I need to get together a list of bedtime stories that I read to the baby."

Inuyasha peered at the paper. "What do you have so far?" Kagome read her list out loud.

Little Red Riding Hood

Cinderella

Sleeping Beauty

Three Little Pigs

"Isn't Little Red Riding Hood the one where the wolf is the bad guy and he tries to eat the little girl?" asked Shippo.

Inuyasha smirked and waited for Kagome's answer.

"Yes, Shippo."

"What happens at the end of the story again?" asked the amused dog demon.

Kagome couldn't help but smile. He knew the answer to that. She could tell by the tone of his voice. His slightly blood thirsty tone wasn't what made her smile though, it was the fact that he not only listened to the bedtime stories she told Shippo, but he remembered them.

"The hunter killed him, Inuyasha."

"Heh." He smirked. "What happened in the pig one?"

Kagome ducked her head to hide her smile. "I believe the pigs tricked him down the chimney and cooked him."

"Heh." He smirked again.

"Maybe you should take Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty off the list," suggested Sango.

"Oh?" Kagome turned her attention to her friend.

"In Cinderella the girl marries a man she doesn't even know. He couldn't even recognize her without her fancy dress. He was going to marry any girl who fit the slipper!" She glared at Miroku, who looked surprised that he was somehow being blamed. "And in Sleeping Beauty she marries a man she met when she woke up because he kissed her! That is hardly enough reason to get married."

"It was true love's kiss that woke her up," Kagome tried to explain in defense, "Not just any ol' kiss from some strange guy."

Sango snorted. "She didn't even know him. How could she love him?"

Inuyasha stood up and stretched before leaping onto a low branch. He leaned against the trunk and put his hands behind his head before closing his eyes. "Eh, let her keep her stories. Doesn't matter."

"No? In Cinderella the girl marries a man so dense that he doesn't even know he has the wrong girl, even though the step sister only fit her foot in the shoe by cutting off her toes. Is that the kind of man you want your daughter to be looking for? You don't care if your daughter hears stories where the woman falls in love with a total stranger? Where the woman is kissed by a man she doesn't know and she marries him anyhow. You don't mind that your little girl learns that she is supposed to wait around to be saved instead of learning that she can save herself?"

It took every bit of self control Kagome had to not laugh at the expression of horror on the hanyou's face. It came as no surprise he became a red blur as he leapt from the tree and ended up beside her. The pencil was snatched out of her hand and and heavily scratched out two of the miko's favorite fairy tales. His relaxed posture gone as he glared at Kagome.

"What? They're classics!"

Shippo took the pencil and put it back in Kagome's hand. "Write down the mermaid one. I liked that one"

"The Little Mermaid?"

He grinned, "Yeah, that's the one."

Sango nodded. "The mermaid endures many hardships to pursue her dream. She has her tongue cut out and endured excruciating pain to be with the man she loves. She is a strong woman, a good role model. She even is the one to save the prince! Add that one to your list."

"Write it down, Kagome," instructed Inuyasha as he sat next to her again. Apparently he decided not to hop back up to the branch.

But the pencil didn't move.

"You want me to write down that story?" she asked. He nodded and pushed her arm a bit as a not so subtle hint to start writing. "You want me to write down the story where the girl works so hard and endures so much, only to have the man she loves more than anything in the world marry someone else and she ends up dying?"

"Forget it." Inuyasha snarled.

"What about the story of the beautiful woman and the beast?" suggested Miroku, hoping to distract Inuyasha from the looks that promised death he was shooting towards Shippo and Sango.

"Doesn't the father basically sell his daughter to the beast to buy his own freedom?" Sango gave a glare of her own to the monk.

"Leave it off the list."

"But Inuyasha, it's a good story," argues Kagome as she begins to write down the title.

"No. Leave it off!"

"Give me back my pencil, dog boy!"

"Ow! Let go of my hair!"

"Then give me back my pencil!"

Inuyasha held the pencil out of her reach as she made a grab for it. She pulled on his hair and yanked on his sleeve.

"True," Miroku said as if two of his companions weren't fighting over a pencil like a pair of children, "The daughter trades her freedom for her father's. That shows that she is kind and selfless."

"Or she is spineless," grumbles the exterminator.

Kagome stops struggling. "But Sango, Beauty was strong in her own way. She lived with the Beast, who everyone was terrified of and hated. He was filled with such bitterness and anger, but eventually Beauty saw him for the person he was inside, not the beast that other people saw." Inuyasha stopped struggling as well. "She fell in love with him, and even when her sisters tricked her and tried to keep her away from him, she still went back. In the end she chose to be with him because she loved him, no matter what anyone else said or thought. And he loved her."

Inuyasha sat back down and thrust the pencil back at the miko. "Write it down." He blushed at the smile she gave him. "How many stories do you have to have?"

Kagome looked at her paper woefully. "I only have three... I need at least two more."

"Pick one with a fox as the hero!"

The next hour or so was debating verbally... and not so verbally... different stories to add to the list. Eventually Kagome gave up writing and sat rocking Mikomi back and forth as she listened to her friends. It warmed her heart. Inuyasha obviously wasn't the only one who listened to her stories at night.

As Inuyasha vehemently insisted that Little Red Riding Hood be left on the list regardless of if she's a heroine in distress who had to be saved (he felt that any story where the wolf dies HAD to stay on the list), Kagome reached up behind him to where she could see his rosary peeking out. If she was careful and didn't touch his hair, she just might have a chance to get ahold of the stupid thing while he was distracted. Her fingers were a breath away when Inuyasha twisted suddenly and grabbed her wrist, glaring at her.

"Don't even think about it, wench."

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Making the lists for the babysitter and the bedtime stories took longer than I expected. There were a lot of things that I didn't think of at first. Luckily I had some friends help me brainstorm. It was interesting hearing everyone's point of view and listen to thing things that they felt were important both in who watches their child, and the stories that their child hears.

I guess I never really thought about the importance of the stories we tell to our kids. Would it really be all THAT bad to tell a fairy-tale where a handsome prince saves her and sweeps her off her feet? What's so wrong about love at first sight anyhow? It's possible to fall in love with someone who's under a sleep spell, I know it is. 

Besides, I want my kids to believe in happily ever afters. Sometimes when all the demons in the world are descending upon you, that belief in happily ever after is all that keeps you going.

Kagome Higurashi

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Author's Note:

Thank you all for your reviews. It means a lot to me. I enjoy reading them. Many of them make me think harder about how to approach the next chapter. Though I don't change the direction of my stories based on reviews, I do take constructive criticism and suggestions seriously. And since some of you have asked so nicely, I will be putting the teacher's response up as the very last chapter.


	15. Fear

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Fifteen: Fear

Day Twenty – Five

Please tell me that real babies aren't as fragile as these electronic ones. If so, I don't think that there is any way I could handle the stress of being a parent. 

I may not be the most clumsy of people in the whole universe, but I drop things on a fairly regular basis. And those things aren't all squirmy like a baby. They also don't spit up surprises that might startle a person into dropping them. Would it help if I got the baby a suit of rubber to wear at all times? 

There are no reset buttons on babies. How am I supposed to live being a paranoid mess every time I pick up my child? Thanks ever so much for another parental insecurity to add to my already growing list. Thanks a bunch.

For a change the camp was quiet. Kagome shivered. She had never believed that silence could be so unnerving before.

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Silence.

It was the loudest, most ominous silence that Kagome ever heard. It was so deafening that it woke the miko up with a start. Her heart was thundering in her chest as fear coursed through her veins.

Over the dying fire was the form of a man, turning quickly in her direction. A shadow. Even with her weak human eyesight Kagome knew that it was Inuyasha.

"What's wrong?" He was at her side before she could blink.

"Mikomi…" Struggling to get out of her sleeping bag, Kagome frantically searched the darkness where she knew that her electronic daughter was laying. "Something is wrong with her!" She hated that her voice was tight with panic, but she couldn't keep it from breaking and trembling.

Inuyasha left her only long enough to fetch the doll and bring her to Kagome. He took them both away from the group and sat down next to a tree, pulling Kagome into his lap while she held the baby.

Her eyes were tearing and she checked the doll for any signs of life. Her brain knew that Mikomi was a doll, but her heart… well… it wasn't listening to the brain. Since her hands were too shaky to press the buttons on the doll, Inuyasha followed her directions. But none of the buttons brought the doll to life.

"I've killed her," Kagome whispered hoarsely. "I killed Mikomi…"

"Shhhh… no Kagome… it's okay… you didn't kill anything…" Unconsciously the dog demon began rocking the sobbing girl. The doll clutched tightly to her chest. He rested his head on top of hers and willed her to stop crying.

Inuyasha was feeling panicked himself. Not because of the doll, but because of the heart wrenching sounds coming from the girl he swore to protect. He didn't know how to protect her from this. That's one reason why he hated her tears so much. It was something he couldn't destroy or kill to make everything better. He was never taught how to be comforting and felt useless and weak and was at a loss. He REALLY hated her tears.

"I wasn't good enough… and now she's dead…" Her body was shaking as badly as her voice.

Awkwardly Inuyasha rubbed shoulders and stroked her hair, the only things he could think of to do to comfort her while he tried to come up with an idea of how to fix this.

He couldn't believe that the doll had died. Of course he knew that it was possible. After all, Kagome had warned them plenty of times that the doll could be hurt or even 'die' if it wasn't taken care of properly. It was possible. With a heavy heart he dropped his forehead onto Kagome's head. He thought that they had been doing a pretty good job being parents. He was beginning to believe that he really could be responsible enough to be a father to a pup. He had failed. Worse… he failed Kagome.

"We did a good job taking care of her," he whispered. "We didn't do anything wrong."

Sniffling, Kagome turned her head a bit to look up into his eyes. They were shining a bit too brightly. It was then that she realized that he was feeling exactly what she was. A familiar sense of fear crept up her spine.

"You did good, Inuyasha. You did nothing wrong. You protected us and provided for us. You kept us warm and safe. You were careful with her. You made sure everyone else was careful with her too. You did everything you could possibly do."

He closed his eyes. "Are you sure it isn't working? Try again. Try something else."

Kagome wiped her tears from her face and began inspecting the doll. It made no sounds no matter how many times or what buttons she pushed. Biting her lip she tried everything she could think of to get the baby to make some sort of sign. Together they sat in the shadow of the tree pressing buttons and suggesting new things to try. Nothing worked. When dawn began to break they went back to camp and set Mikomi back on her warm pallet.

"What will we tell the others?" whispered Kagome as she tucked the baby under the covers. "Shippo was so attached to her."

"We tell them the truth."

Inuyasha sat in his usual spot, with his back against a tree so he could keep watch over camp. Looking at Kagome was difficult. She looked so tired and defeated. Drained. It hurt him in a way he didn't know was even possible.

"Get some sleep, Kagome."

She shook her head and gave a wobbly laugh. "I don't think I could if I tried." Her lip trembled, then her face crumbled as tears began trickling down her cheeks. When Inuyasha held his hand out to her she didn't hesitate taking it, finding comfort sitting in his lap and arms once more.

Every night Inuyasha dreamt of being able to hold her, but not like this. He didn't want it to happen like this. His arms tightened around her. Would she still want him to be the father of her pups if he couldn't even keep this one practice doll alive for a whole month? It wasn't until he saw the visions of Kagome and his children vanishing that he realized just how badly he wanted them. His family. And now… now he may just be losing them forever.

He tried to memorize the feeling of Kagome holding onto him so tightly. After this it may be the last time he had the chance. Surely she would hate him and hold him responsible once she had time to calm down and think about it. No amount of 'sit' commands would be enough.

"I'm sorry. So sorry," he told her over and over again. And he was. He was sorry that she was so upset. Sorry that she would fail her class and be held back another year. But most of all he was sorry that he had failed her so terribly. How could she have faith in him after this?

"It's not your fault," she told him again. "Please believe me." _Please_, she begged, _please don't let him blame himself._

Together they sat Sometimes they tried to blame themselves while assuring the other that they were not at fault. Sometimes they just sat in silence, taking comfort in each other's presence. They waited quietly for the others to wake up.

An earsplitting wail shattered the quiet of the dawn.

"Can't someone figure out how to keep Mikomi quiet?" grumbled a sleepy Miroku as he rubbed his eyes and turned over away from the sound.

Kagome screeched in delight as she ran to the baby. It was screaming. Loudly. With a merry laugh she hugged the doll and twirled her in a circle. Smiling brightly she turned towards an equally thrilled hanyou then launched herself into his arms, kissing him on the cheek before bending down to kiss the baby. Laughing and giggling she rejoiced in the noise the baby was making.

"She's crying!" she shouted happily as she danced around the camp site.

Miroku yawned. "I think Lady Kagome has finally snapped." Sango nodded in agreement.

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I have never been so happy as when I heard Mikomi cry this morning. She was so quiet that I thought for sure she was broken! She has never gone so long without making a sound. EVER! So, in addition to a total lack of sleep because of the constant crying, it turns out that when the baby is silent I'm going to be too nervous and scared out of my wits to sleep. 

Couldn't you give us any warning that something like this could happen? The stress level isn't good for my heart.

At least if it had been a real baby I could have checked to see if she was still breathing or if the heart was still beating. With the doll there was just. NOTHING! I thought I had killed her! This is going to scar me for life, I just know it. You will be to blame when I have children of my own and they wake up in the middle of the night to find me holding a mirror over their mouths checking to see if they are still breathing.

You do know that it is illegal to perform psychological experiments on people without their knowledge or consent. Especially on minors. Hope this was worth the time you'll be spending in the jailhouse when they catch you.

Kagome Higurashi

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Author's Note:

Yes, I know this chapter is short… but I can only handle angst in small amounts. I hope you will all forgive me.


	16. Rejection

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Sixteen: Rejection

Day Twenty – Seven

Babies, I've noticed, tend to make everyone think of starting their own families. It doesn't matter if the baby is someone else's or even if it's an electronic doll. Holding a baby makes you think of what it is going to be like holding your own baby. It has been on my mind almost every minute of the day for the past twenty-seven days. But then again, I guess that was the whole point of this experience.

I think I've decided that I want to wait until I have more patience and energy… and stamina… and have had all the sleep I could possibly want. It couldn't hurt to wait until cloning was perfected either so one of me could sleep while the other watches the baby. 

The responsibility is staggering, not to mention the long term commitment involved. At least eighteen years! Sometimes more! Plus if I want the kid to go to college… I can't even think about the amount of money that is going to take. I probably should have already been saving for it. 

The anxiety is making me break out in hives.

Kagome sighed. This project was going to be the death of her yet. She looked up, hoping to find Inuyasha up on his usual tree limb, but was disappointed. _ Now where did he run off to? _Shippo said he saw him headed towards the well... but that just didn't make any sense at all.

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_Sixty-Five more days_, he chanted silently, _sixty-five more days._

Fighting monsters isn't a big deal. In fact, it kinda fun. Plus it is a great way to get rid of extra stress. Like when you want to tear a pervert to shreds for standing a little too close to the girl you unofficially claimed and he KNOWS IT and you knew she'd be ticked off if you sliced him up even the teensiest bit. So tearing up a few demons instead of friends kept you out of trouble. Mostly. Not that it's possible to ever be completely out of trouble, but you learn to dodge the big fights when you can. If you happen to be in the mood to dodge fights. Sometimes even that is a little fun, depending on who you are fighting with and what/who you are fighting about.

Unfortunately for Inuyasha, there were no demons for him to fight that morning to deal with his stress. Sometime during the middle of the night he had come to a very big decision. He was about to do something that was scarier than anything else he had ever faced before.

But where was his courage? Where is the man who shrugs off a hole in the stomach and refers to almost having his arm cut off as a flesh wound? Where is the man who jumps fearlessly into battle without a second thought? Who is this person sitting… no… HIDING in the branches of a tree too scared to face one girl? Okay okay, so she has strong miko powers and could purify him to sparkly dust… and sure she has a temper that can make even the bravest warrior cower… but she was still just one measly mortal girl.

Inuyasha wiped his sweaty hands on the fire rat robe. _Sweating? I'm sweating?_ It was ridiculous, really. It wasn't like he hadn't been planning on doing this for a long time. It wasn't like he hadn't planned the speech a thousand times a night, complete with a list of good arguments why she should agree if she got it into her head to be uncertain.

1. I will always protect you. So you'll always be safe. You won't have to worry.

2. I'm a good hunter and can provide for you.

3. I'm a good leader. I've kept our weird pack together pretty well. Who else could have led a group of two demons, a half demon, a demon slayer, an untrained miko, and a lecherous monk?

4. You won't have to go to that school thing anymore. You can stay here and we can visit your family if you want.

5. We make a good team. We fight well together.

6. Shippo needs a mother and if you leave he will feel like he has lost his family all over again.

_Okay_, he admitted to himself, _that was might have to be a last resort._ He knew it was emotional blackmail, but he didn't care. He'd use every weapon he could think of to get Kagome to agree to stay with him. All's fair after all.

7. You promised you'd stay with me for as long as I wanted.

8. I'm a lord, so technically if you mated me you'd really be Lady Kagome. Titles are good, right?

_Okay_, he admitted again, _so I don't have lands or money to go with the title of 'Lord Inuyasha'. Big deal. It still counts. _He didn't figure that one would be a deal breaker with her, so he mentally shoved it farther down the list.

9. I'm strong and fast, which make for a good protector.

10. I have a good sense of smell that can find us food, water, shelter, and detect danger.

11. We trust each other. And trust is really important. The most important. Well… maybe not 'most'… but its up there.

12. I can… hey… where is that girl going…?

The internal list was temporarily put on hold as the miko waved to Sango, who was now holding a crying Mikomi, and walked down the path. She had her towel and her little bag of bathing junk. He growled in Sango's direction. It was the demon slayer's job to protect Kagome when she bathed. Inuyasha was furious! Didn't she know what kind of dangers were out there for a woman bathing alone?

"Oi, Sango!"

The demon slayer didn't bat an eyelash as the red clad half demon appeared behind her. She focused on checking Mikomi to see if her diaper was dry. It was. She ignored the growling as she continued to look for a reason for the doll's mood. In fact, it almost looked like the demon slayer was amused.

"Sango!"

"Oh, hi Inuyasha."

Growl. "Where is Kagome?"

Sango bounced the electronic doll and patted its back. "Oh, she was tired and went to go soak in the hot spring."

Snarl. "Alone?"

The woman actually smirked. "Someone had to watch the baby. Miroku went to go meditate and Shippo went to make sure that meditation did not involve young lady's bottoms. They promised to bring back lunch though."

"You let Kagome go ALONE?"

Sango shrugged. "She needed some time away from the baby. Mikomi has been very fussy lately." And that was an understatement. "If you are worried about her YOU should go keep watch over her."

Grrrrrrr. "I ain't no pervert."

She rolled her eyes. "I did not mean that you should watch her, you idiot. I meant that you could go and keep an ear out. Be close by in case she needed protection."

As he gave her a disgusted snort and bounded off in the direction he knew Kagome had gone he could have sworn he heard her say "sucker". The comment didn't make sense so he shrugged it off. Sometimes it was best not to try to understand women.

Inuyasha knew he had two choices. He could sneak around and hide while Kagome bathed. That way she wouldn't know he was watching… er… protecting. However, if he got caught… again… things were not likely to be very pleasant. Visions of an Inuyasha shaped hole in the ground filled his head. The other choice was to call out her name and hope she didn't 'sit' him as he explained why he was there.

"Kagoooome!"

No answer. He cursed the lousy human hearing she had the misfortune to be born with. He hoped that their pups would inherit HIS hearing. For the first time, Inuyasha felt comfortable with the direction his thoughts were going. She would say yes. They would be mates. And they would have pups.

They would.

Really.

At least… he hoped so. His palms started sweating again as he realized that there was a teeny tiny miniscule chance that he might not be able to convince her. He wondered how long she would be mad at him if he 'accidentally' destroyed the well…

"KaaaaGoooooMeeeeeee!"

Abruptly, Inuyasha skidded to a stop and sniffed the air. No doubt about it, there was the stink of wolf in the air. The dog demon cursed violently and took off, desperation making his feet fly.

With his sword drawn, Inuyasha leapt into the clearing next to the hot spring. His eyes bled red as he saw Kouga holding Kagome's hands close to his chest. It was absolutely the last straw. Not even Kagome's soft heart would be able to stop him from killing the wolf this time. The demon refused to learn, so it was up to him to teach the wolf a very permanent lesson.

He opened his mouth to scream.

"INUYASHA!"

Alas, Kagome was quicker. And that tone of voice meant only one thing. The hanyou braced himself for impact, his war cry dying in his throat. He landed a couple of yards away from them.

Inuyasha waited for the rosary to pull him to the ground. _She's so stupid! I'm protecting her! Why won't she let me protect her? Does she have any idea how it makes me look? Of course Kouga is going to keep coming after her if he doesn't think that I'm a weak mate! She just doesn't get it! Why the h… wait… she never said 'sit'…_

Confused that his inner dialogue had gone on so long without being slammed into the ground, he looked at the miko. Her eyes were begging him. Begging him to be still so she could talk with the wolf demon. Begging him to stand down. Something inside of him died. _She wants him… she really wants him…_ Her eyes were much more effective than the rosary ever was.

The dog demon sat where he was, his grip tightened on the hilt of his sword. He would let her have her say, but he wasn't letting her go without a fight. She wasn't meant to be with Kouga.

So what if the wolf had a flattering tongue, surely girls weren't swayed by pretty words. So what if the wolf brought her gifts sometimes, surely that wouldn't win her heart. So what if he told her since the day he met her that he loved her. That one was the dumbest of all. The guy only knew her for a few hours, and had only taken her because she could sense the shards. He doesn't know a single thing about her! Nothing important and real, anyhow. Nothing that made Kagome… well… Kagome. Surely she wasn't stupid enough to think he could have possibly have honestly meant that he loved her. _Please don't be stupid, Kagome._

Inuyasha was too busy trying to send telepathic messages to the miko to pay much attention to what the wolf was saying to him. It wasn't like it was important. Probably just the same old insults. He watched as Kagome finally took her eyes away from his and focused back on the wolf. She took a deep breath, like she usually does when she's about to make a long winded speech. Though he doubted this one was an explanation of a homework assignment or a list of reasons why she needed to back to her time or needed to stop and take another confounded bath.

"Kouga."

She waited until she had the wolf's attention before continuing. "I'm flattered that you care about my welfare. I am. But you have to understand that I don't belong to you. I'm not your woman. Nor am I your mate, or even potential mate. I'm sorry, but I don't feel that way about you. I don't love you."

He opened his mouth to try and change her mind, but she put her finger on his lips, silencing him. Inuyasha growled fiercely. No part of her should EVER be touching his lips. The cocky look he got from Kouga made him want to explode.

"You are our ally in battle. You help us in our fight against Naraku. And believe me when I say that your help is greatly appreciated." Inuyasha chose to ignore the glare she sent in his direction that threatened death if he spoke his mind. Stroking the rotten lousy demon's ego wasn't improving Inuyasha's mood.

"I like you. I consider you my friend. And I would like to keep you as my friend. But I can't if you keep saying things like that to me." Inuyasha wished he had been here for the conversation she had with him that brought this on. Though, he realized, he might have killed the wolf and missed the show. "You can't call me your woman. You can't call me your mate. As much as I would mourn the loss of our friendship, I can't continue to let you try to claim me. I can never be yours, and when you say those things it only makes things more difficult."

She gave the demon a stern look. "I also happen to know that most of the time you say these things to intentionally make Inuyasha mad. I'm afraid I can't let you keep doing that. It has to end, Kouga."

"Kagome…"

Taking another deep breath, she said, "I apologize if I ever led you to believe that there could ever be something between us other than friendship." She sounded a bit too sincere for the dog demon's taste.

"But… Kagome…"

"It's best that you go now."

The wolf's jaw was set, and his icy blue eyes were glaring at Inuyasha. "I won't give up on you, Kagome."

"You have to."

"I can't. And I won't."

Kagome inhaled slowly. It was one of the new temper controlling techniques that Inuyasha had seen her experimenting with for the past several months. So far it was working pretty well. Silently he counted to ten slowly as she let out her breath and opened her eyes back up.

"You don't understand, Kouga. I'm not asking you. I'm telling you. It will end."

For a moment Kouga seemed speechless. Suddenly Inuyasha's whole day seemed infinitely brighter. Heck, this little scene would keep him amused for many many years to come. He didn't even bother trying to feel sorry for the wolf.

"I will fight him for you."

Kagome's lips quirked. _When did she start smirking?_ "You really don't want to do that. Inuyasha won't be pulling punches anymore. And after today, I won't ask him to. I'm very serious about this."

Even if he had wanted to, Inuyasha couldn't have stopped the greedy grin on his face. Kagome was giving him the 'okay' to take down Kouga if he tries to claim her again. FINALLY he was going to be able to do this the right way. He cracked his knuckles in anticipation. It was really too bad she said 'after today'.

With relish he watched as Kouga finally understood. He was defeated. Rejected. HA! If he had any sort of compassion towards the miko stealing wolf he might have offered a word or two of comfort. But that wasn't gonna happen! It was taking all of his self control not to jump up and gloat. And he only wasn't gloating because he wanted to keep Kagome in a good mood. Having her all ticked off would completely ruin the wonderful moment he was having.

"Ayame loves you, Kouga. And she has been waiting for you for such a long time." Of course she had to ruin the moment anyhow. _Stupid soft human heart._ "Give her a chance. Give both of you a chance at happiness."

After a couple more pathetic looks, Kouga finally turned to leave. He made the heartbroken lovey dovey eyes at her before speeding away.

"You meant that, right?"

Kagome picked up her bathing supplies where they had been dropped earlier. Her cheeks were a little pink as she turned from him. "Of course I did."

"About time."

She sauntered over towards the water and kicked off her shoes. Bending down she started rolling one of her socks down her leg. Inuyasha was frozen to his spot_. Is she going to… here… in front of me…? _ Should he stay? Should he look away? Would she 'sit' him if he didn't? Was he supposed to?

Noticing she had an audience, Kagome turned her head to give him an amused look. She stood up, placing on hand on her hip and gave him another smirk. She was getting pretty good at smirking.

"You aren't going to watch are you?"

Backing up hastily, Inuyasha began to sputter. "I AIN'T NO PERVERT!" He became nothing but a red blur as he leapt across the clearing and into the tree. He opened his mouth to tell her that he wouldn't want to be watching her anyhow, but decided that wouldn't be in his best interest.

"I can't see you," he assured her, "I'm just listening."

"Listening?" He blushed at the amused tone of voice she used.

"In case there's trouble. And since you're always getting in trouble, I thought I'd save myself the long trip from camp," he huffed. "Besides, Sango isn't here to protect you."

"Ooohhh."

Surprisingly enough, she didn't 'sit' him or try to make him leave. In fact, for most of the bath she ended up talking to him. They didn't talk about important things, but they just talked. And it felt good. It felt right. Inuyasha was glad that Sango was taking care of Mikomi. It was a great day.

A perfect day.

Only one thing could have made it more perfect, but the dog demon decided that maybe he shouldn't press his luck. After all, he had sixty-five more days to wait. Then again...

Of course, the option was taken away from him when the perfect moment was broken when they heard a baby wail. Inuyasha sighed. Then he heard Kagome's name being called. He wasn't sure if he should throttle Sango for taking away his chance, or thank her. Once the woman made it to the hot spring he gave her a look and took off.

"Kagome! I can't get Mikomi to stop crying!"

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Sometimes doing the right thing is a pain in the keister. Life was easier when I could wave things off or ignore them. I hate dealing with the yucky stuff. Not yucky as in guts laying around that you have to dig around in while looking for something, but yucky as in telling someone something they don't want to hear while trying not to hurt their feelings.

I took a nice long bath today. Yeah, I know you probably don't care or see how it's relevant to the assignment, but it was the highlight of my month. It was nice and warm and very relaxing. Lucky for me that a friend offered to watch Mikomi for me. I've always loved hot baths, but I don't think I've ever enjoyed one quite this much. The only thing missing was some relaxing music and maybe a few candles. Aaah. I wonder if my long bath days will be numbered when I have a real baby.

By the way, did you program my baby to have colic? Do all the babies cry non-stop? Do you hate us all or just me specifically? Is it possible to get addicted to aspirin? 

Kagome Higurashi


	17. Spies

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Seventeen: Spies

Day Twenty – Eight

The youngest member of my family seems to be abnormally attached to the doll. Unfortunately, I think that maybe I am too. People have to keep reminding me that she isn't really real. I sometimes talk and sing to her when she isn't crying, just because it is a comforting thing to do. I used to be concerned about what would happen to the family member when he loses Mikomi as a companion of sorts. Now I'm beginning to be concerned about myself too.

Now in addition to worrying about boys, homework, college, the future, and fighting demons (metaphorically speaking of course), now I also have to worry about my sanity. Gee… Thanks a bunch.

Then again, I have seen my mother kootchie koo the baby, so maybe the insanity is actually hereditary. Or maybe it is contagious. Just a thought.

This project is awfully close to being completed, and believe it or not, I'm beginning to miss the baby already. It has been kind of nice to have someone to hold and cuddle and take care of. She makes me think that maybe this is the missing piece in my life. Maybe that's why I had such a hard time leaving her with the babysitter.

Or maybe I really have gone insane.

Kagome sighed heavily, tempted to erase the last line she just wrote. _Am I going insane?_ She looked over at Sango and Miroku, who were both cooing over the electronic baby. She snorted in amusement. _At least I'm not alone in the land of the insane._

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"This is what I want."

She blinked for a moment, unsure of what he was talking about. It seemed an odd thing for him to blurt out all of a sudden. "What do you mean?"

"This." He looks down at the baby she is cradling in her arms, brushing his fingers across the doll's bald head softly. "I want this. I want to see you holding our baby one day. I want the crying in the middle of the night, the lullabies, the tiny hand holding mine. I want a family." He paused slightly. "With you."

Blushing, she looked away. Her heart was thundering in her chest. Could she dare to believe him? She wanted to. With all her heart and soul she wanted his words to be true.

"Be serious," she scolded.

Taking one of her hands in his, he turned her to face him. His eyes more solemn than she had ever seen them.

"Never in my whole life, have I been more serious." He took a deep breath, tightening his hand around hers gently. "I know you will not believe me, but I will spend the rest of my life proving it to you. I love you."

She gasped at the admission. Never, not once, had he said those three words to her. She had guessed… had hoped… but never thought he would say those words to her. To be honest, she didn't think any man would ever say those words to her with that look in his eyes. Her heart fluttered as she realized something. She believed him.

"I… I love you too…"

Tenderly he brought her hand up to his lips, brushing them against her skin.

The slight rustling in the bushes nearby caught his attention. He strained to listen, but was only greeted with silence. He shrugged it off, after all, there were more important things to be thinking about.

She loved him.

"What is he saying now?" hissed Kagome as quietly as she could.

"Shut up, idiot!" Inuyasha whispered back. "Do you want them to hear us?"

"Sango's crying though. What did he say?"

Inuyasha pushed Kagome's head down to the ground before she could peer over the leaves and covered her mouth as Miroku's gaze swept over their hiding place. When he returned his attention back onto the blushing and teary eyed Sango, the dog demon let up his grip a little. He brought his head close to the miko's so he could keep his voice quiet, but so that Kagome would be able to hear him. The monk suspected them.

"Later," he whispered the promise.

She glared at him and opened her mouth, but he put his hand over her mouth again. He glared back, then quick as lightening he scooped her up and stealthily stole away. He kept his hand over her mouth until they were out of the humans' hearing range. Naturally he took the scenic route. And that, of course, involved a series of leaps and jumps and lots of speed. Finally he found a secluded spot and let her go.

For a moment it looked like she was going to 'sit' him into oblivion. Then apparently she remembered that he had some juicy gossip to share and her face lit up in excitement.

"Well?"

Inuyasha smirked sadistically and leaned lazily against a tree. "Well what?"

The girl was practically dancing in excitement. "What did he say? What did he say? Why was Sango crying? Tell me!"

He crossed his arms over his chest nonchalantly and shrugged. It was difficult keeping a straight face as the girl grabbed the front of his robes and began shaking him, demanding that he spill his guts. It was an odd phrase for her to use, considering every time his guts were spilled she ended up crying and blubbering over him. _Women_. He'd never figure them out.

"If you get all squealy they'll know we've been spying on them," he warned.

Her grip on his clothes eased up, though he noticed that she didn't let go. Her eyes were bright and she was leaning close to him. With her head upturned and her neck exposed, Inuyasha began to get a little nervous. She was awfully close. Too close. Well… actually… not quite close enough…

"I promise! I won't get squealy."

With his heart beating so hard it was almost deafening, Inuyasha leaned in a little closer than necessary, his mouth only a breath away from her ear. "He told her that he loved her," he whispered.

Kagome squealed.

One she calmed down, Inuyasha told her about the rest of the conversation. The dog demon sat on a nearby boulder to watch as Kagome shouted happily and spun around with giddy laughter. It was good to see her so happy and full of energy. The assignment had been difficult on the girl. Most of the month she had been tired and more cranky than usual. There had even been a couple of instances when one member of their group asked if she might be under some sort of spell. Or possession.

He wasn't safe for long though. Soon enough she was grabbing his hands and spinning him around too. Since no one else was around to witness the outrageous display Inuyasha let her.

All too soon she let go of his hands, clasping her own in front of her. It was the same pleading posture she often struck which never failed to get her what she wanted.

"Let's go back! Please?"

Inuyasha looked away, hoping the pleading wouldn't affect him so much if he couldn't see her. Part of him wanted to go back and listen to the rest of Miroku's speech, the other part of him wanted Kagome getting some rest before she collapsed.

She was supposed to have gotten sleep last night. It was the night with no moon. And since he was human and wasn't going to sleep anyhow, he offered to watch Mikomi. But Kagome insisted on staying up with him. She claimed it was to catch up on her homework, but Inuyasha knew better. It was because of him. She didn't want him to be alone. Luckily there were no attacks, so Kagome did her homework and Inuyasha had taken care of the baby. A couple of times she dozed off, but she had no real sleep.

He felt guilty over keeping the exhausted girl up, but he couldn't find it in him to force her to go to sleep. He enjoyed the company too much. It was one of the rare occasions that he and Kagome were together when he didn't have to share her with Shippo or Sango or Miroku or her mom or Souta or her nosy friends from school. It was just the two of them, and he couldn't bear to let it go.

However, the dark circles under her eyes worried him.

"You should be sleeping. Isn't that what you've been complaining about all month? No time to sleep? Well, now you have it. They're watching Mikomi for the afternoon and YOU are supposed to be sleeping." Still refusing to look in her direction, he sounded stern. Strong, like a rock, and just as immovable. "Get some rest, wench."

"Pleeeeease?"

Okay, he couldn't actually see her… but he could still hear her. He could actually hear her batting her eyes at him. The cheater! To make things worse, she was using THAT voice! That awful please-don't-break-my-heart-it-would-hurt-my-soul-forever voice. He should have known that her voice was just as powerful as her eyes. The girl played dirty.

As he sped away towards the clearing where they last saw Miroku and Sango, he wondered just how the girl managed to get people to do her bidding without using a lick of magic.

Oh well, at least she was happy. A happy Kagome means no 'sits'.

Generally.

Besides, Inuyasha was curious as well. He was glad that Shippo was off with Kaede instead of being underfoot. The kit had a way of seeing things a little too clearly and had no inhibitions about sharing information. Right now the dog demon would prefer to keep his secrets for just a little bit longer. Once he was more sure of himself and the situation then things would be different… like maybe in a century or two.

"Isn't the clearing off to the right?" asked Kagome as they veered off to the left.

"They moved, probably right after we left." He turned his head so that he could see her face, keeping his smile to himself. He couldn't help but be proud of the fact that she was able to tell exactly where they are, even though most humans would be lost in the sea of trees. Was it her power? Or had she spent so much time in the forest with him that she was able to recognize landmarks? It didn't matter to him, but he was a little curious. "They didn't get far. But you have to stay silent from here on out. Not a word. Not a sound." Kagome nodded in understanding.

Luckily, Miroku and Sango hadn't gone far. They were sitting near a river with a waterfall. Inuyasha scoffed, _they think the waterfall will cover their sound._ He knew it wasn't exactly polite to eavesdrop on friends. But he was just watching out for them. And for Mikomi. And for Kagome. After all, if something happened to Mikomi, then Kagome would have to go to school for another year to graduate from high school. The hanyou only had so much patience, and he didn't think he that he could survive waiting another year.

Once their positions as sentries was secure, he let himself relax a little bit and focus. His ears twitched back and forth, getting a smothered giggle as a response from the girl beside him. He twitched them again just for another response.

"I love you," he whispered to the miko at his side.

Kagome's eyes opened wide, her mouth hanging slightly open. Stunned. She tried to find her voice, but couldn't seem to locate it. The only sound she could manage was a tiny little squeak. For a moment she thought that her heart had stopped.

"You are the only woman I have ever loved."

The word 'Kikyo' came to Kagome's mind, but she couldn't get it past her lips. Though her mouth was moving, there were no words coming out. It was probably for the best, since very likely she would just babble before she could make a coherent sentence. Unfortunately he was not looking at her, so he could not see the question she was trying so hard to ask.

"You are my heart. You are my reason for living."

Kagome's hands trembled slightly as they reached towards him.

"You are my light."

His golden gaze was locked into the distance. Biting her lip, Kagome turned her head slowly to follow the path his eyes were taking.

"I love you. Please, do me the honor of becoming my wife."

Kagome looked towards the waterfall, where Miroku was bending down on one knee in front of a blushing demon slayer. Her heart fell and her hands dropped back to her lap. She felt like an idiot. She should have known that Inuyasha was just relaying the conversation. Tears burned in her eyes, but she knew she couldn't let them fall.

But the stupid things fell anyhow.

Inuyasha's nose twitched. He looked at Kagome, horrified at the tears falling down her cheeks. He caught her hand as she was trying to rub them away. She was an idiot if she thought he wouldn't notice. He always knew when she cried. Always.

As quietly as he could (which means totally silently) Inuyasha took Kagome and sped away from their hiding spot… again. He knew he should apologize for something, but he wasn't sure what. Once they were far enough away that no one would be able to sneak up on them and disturb them… or spy on them… Inuyasha finally set her down.

"What's wrong?"

Unable to look him in the eye she sniffled, giving a humorless laugh before answering. "Nothing."

"Liar."

She laughed again, this time adding a smile. "I'm just so happy for them."

Miroku and Sango were going to be married. They would have children. They would be a family. Kagome couldn't get the image of Miroku, Sango, and Mikomi out of her mind. She knew that she was envious. Another tear found its way down her cheek. It was difficult to keep from breaking down and sobbing. They wanted each other. They loved each other. They were going to have a happy ending after all.

Wiping the tear away she took a deep calming breath and realized that she honestly was happy for them, and her forced smile slowly warmed into a real one. They deserved happiness. Both of them. Finally she was able to look her hanyou in the eyes.

"I'm happy for them."

Inuyasha smiled. "Yeah."

Kagome took another deep breath. Her heart still ached. It hurt. But she reminded herself how much she loved her friends and how happy she was for them. Envy is an ugly feeling, and it was difficult to cope with.

"It was a beautiful proposal," she sighed happily as she hopped onto a boulder to sit. "He sure has a way with words."

Inuyasha frowned. "Keh."

Kagome laughed merrily as she swung her legs. "Of course, YOU have a way with words too."

Opening his mouth to make a scathing come back, Inuyasha froze. Kagome liked those beautiful words. She really did. His frown deepened. He didn't know how to be all romantical like that. There's no way he could come up with a speech to practically make her swoon. He had grown up alone and fighting for his life, not exactly time to learn how to woo a mate. Who did he have as his role models with women? Sesshomaru? Ha! Miroku? That man should have brain damage with as many times as he had been slapped, slugged, and pummeled for his perverted sense of romance. He couldn't ask Sango, that would just about be the same as sending a direct message to Kagome that he didn't have a clue. They talk about EVERYthing!

She seemed to like what Miroku said. His first instinct was to tear Miroku into itsy bitsy pieces for having any impact on Kagome's emotions at all, much less making her sigh happily, but that would be counterproductive to winning the girl. Besides, he couldn't say what Miroku said. He just couldn't! Plus she would know in an instant that he stole the monk's words. Talk about ruining the 'mood' that she goes on about.

A pebble bounced off his forehead. Reacting to the attack he drew his sword and growled. His attacker, of course, was a giggling miko.

"What?" he grumbled as he sheathed his sword.

"I asked what Sango said." She tossed another rock at him, which he dodged by leaping into the air and landing beside her.

"When?"

Grrr. "When Miroko proposed!"

Inuyasha mumbled incoherently and looked away.

"Sorry, dog boy, you'll have to speak up. I have pathetic weak human hearing, remember?"

The dog demon growled. "I SAID that I don't KNOW!"

"What?"

"We left before she answered," he admitted reluctantly. Visions of being 'sat' ten feet deep filled his head.

"WHAT?"

Oh yeah, he was in big trouble now.

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Okay, I know that I was supposed to leave the baby with a babysitter with the list of instructions I made up, but I couldn't help but doing a little spying on them. Does that make me an overprotective mother or just a snoop? I'm not sure which would be worse… snooping on friends or being overprotective of a doll made of plastic and electronic components. Sad to say, I'm not really sure which it is. 

By any chance are there any extra credit opportunities before you add up the final grade? I know you said that there wasn't, but maybe you forgot about one or two. You do know that if I don't get at least a B that I'll fail, right? That means that I won't graduate! Do you really want me for a whole other year? Think of what it will do to my self esteem.

My future as a well adjusted and productive member of society is in your hands.

Kagome Higurashi

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Author's Note:

Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out. I think I have the bubonic plague or something. There are four more chapters to go, plus I've been considering adding a side story of The Talk that Kagome's mom had with them in the drugstore.

Thanks for your reviews, they mean a lot to me. Some of you guys are just a hoot and I love reading your emails!


	18. Saying GoodBye

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Eighteen: Saying Good-bye

Day Thirty

This is my last day for this assignment. I can't believe it, but I'm actually going to miss the baby.

Saying good-bye to Mikomi was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I know she's just an electronic doll, but it was still hard. How messed up is it that I'm going through separation anxiety for a doll? Just a silly little piece of plastic and electronic components.

But she was my silly little piece of plastic and electronic components.

Kagome let the tear trail down her cheek unchecked. It would only be one of a million she shed that day, what was one more? She looked up from her paper and looked at her friends. Shippo looked as miserable as she felt. Inuyasha was sulking in the tree above them. Miroku and Sango were watching the flames, their fingers intertwined. Kagome allowed herself a smile.

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"You are a heartless monster!"

Inuyasha didn't flinch. All morning he had been barraged with such insults as he began stuffing all of Mikomi's belongings into Kagome's bag. He ignored the angry words and continued to pack.

"I HATE YOU!"

"Shippo!" A red eyed wet cheeked Kagome appeared in the doorway. "You take that back right now!"

"Don't bother, Kagome," said Inuyasha with an indifferent shrug.

The miko didn't acknowledge the dog demon's response. Her narrowed gaze was focused on the fox kit. "Take it back!"

"But Kagome…" Shippo's lip quivered before the tears began to flow. "He's taking her away from us!"

Kagome closed her eyes and sighed before dropping down to her knees so she could scoop up the crying kit. Making soft comforting noises she held him close and smoothed his hair. She carried him farther into the hut before sitting down with her back against the wall.

"I have to give Mikomi back, I was only allowed to keep her for one month. She is a doll and she doesn't belong to me... to us. It was a project for one of my classes in school. You knew that."

"But… but he…"

"I am the one taking Mikomi back, not Inuyasha. In fact, he is the one packing because he knows how hard it is for us to say good-bye to her. He knows that we are attached to her and is doing us a tremendous favor. He is being strong for us." She looked up at the hanyou who was trying to look like he wasn't listening to the conversation. The flicking ears were a dead give away that he was though. "We should be thanking him."

"I don't want to say good-bye," the kit whispered as he tried to snuggle closer.

Kagome hugged him tightly. "Neither do I." She gave him a small smile before bumping his nose with hers. "But we have to be strong too."

"I just wanted a sister."

The only thing Kagome could do was hug him as a sob threatened to choke her. She rocked the fox demon back and forth in her arms and they cried together. It wasn't just a sister he wanted, Shippo wanted a family. His own family. And so did Kagome. After awhile she wasn't sure who was comforting who. Eventually she opened her eyes. Inuyasha was sitting on the far side of the room with the bag, watching them with sorrow in his eyes. He looked away quickly when he noticed her eyes on him.

"Do you really hate Inuyasha?"

Shippo sniffled. "No."

"Don't you think you should apologize to him then?" She didn't mention the fact that the dog demon's feelings had been hurt, he'd deny it in a heartbeat.

By the time the apology was out of Shippo's mouth, Inuyasha was halfway out the door carrying the bag with Mikomi tucked in one arm. He turned his head and nodded to the kit with a look that said that everything was forgiven. Shippo gave him a grateful smile in return.

"Don't forget to tell Sango and Miroku when you see them that I went back to school for the day and that we will be back later tonight." Kagome gave him a hug and a kiss before heading after Inuyasha.

Once they began their walk towards the well Inuyasha shoved Mikomi into Kagome's arms. She held her and looked sadly down at the doll. It was their last walk to the well as the family that she had somehow talked herself into dreaming that they were. It was a dream she rarely let herself think about, but all month it had been in the back of her mind. She told herself that she had to make sure to watch herself so that she didn't make it too obvious. It would embarrass Inuyasha if he knew what she would daydream about.

"You didn't have to do that."

"Hmm?"

Inuyasha looked straight ahead. "You didn't have to make him apologize. He didn't really mean it."

Kagome smiled in relief. For a moment there she thought that maybe he had been reading her thoughts. It was bad enough his other senses could tell so much information unfairly. His ears and nose were practically lie detectors! "Yeah, but he still shouldn't have said it."

"He was just sad and was lashing out."

"Are… you… defending Shippo's behavior?" She tried not to laugh, she really did. But it was such a bizarre concept that she couldn't help it.

"Keh."

Kagome laughed harder when her hanyou couldn't come up with a better response than that for defending the kit. The disgusted look he gave her didn't help matters, it only tickled her more. She knew that she loved being with him. Sure they fought like… well… cats and dogs at times, but she still wouldn't trade him for the world.

All too soon they were at the well. Inuyasha reached for her hand to help her up the side. He was a bit surprised when she didn't take his hand. In fact, she took two steps backwards, clutching Mikomi to her chest.

"She's not a real baby, Kagome."

"I know that!" She turned her face towards the woods to keep Inuyasha from seeing her eyes tearing up again. "I just… liked… having her…"

In the blink of an eye, Inuyasha's face was in front of hers.

"You don't have to take her back."

"Inuyasha…"

"Keep her. Shippo would like that. Then he won't be cryin' all over the place."

Kagome shook her head. "I can't keep her. She doesn't belong to me." She sighed. "Plus I'd fail the class if I never took her back. Not to mention that they would charge my mom a bunch of money that she doesn't have to replace the doll." She sighed again. "I have to do this. Let's take her back, Inuyasha."

He nodded and let Kagome hop into the well first.

Kagome's mother was waiting at the door of the well house with a box of the things they had for Mikomi that they kept in this time. The weepiness was contagious, because the older woman was tearing up over the loss of the doll as well. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and gave a long suffering sigh.

"Are you really taking all this junk?"

Kagome paused as she was leaning over to inspect the contents of the box. She stood up quickly, blushing a bit.

"No, I guess not. It's just the doll we are turning in." She looked down at the box, then at the backpack that had been stuffed with Mikomi's things. "She won't need them now." At that thought the tears came again. Inuyasha was beginning to regret that he even asked the question.

The walk to school was solemn. Inuyasha was a bit worried that Kagome didn't even TRY to make him stay at the house. In her despondent mood she had even forgotten to remind him to wear his hat to cover his ears. She was just lucky that HE remembered. Together they walked side by side down the road towards her school. Even though they didn't talk much, there was a lot of heavy sighing coming from the young miko.

"I'll see you when I get home," Kagome said when they reached the school.

"I'll stay."

Kagome froze in midstep. "What do you mean you'll stay? You can't stay!" Worriedly she looked up to where his ears were, and sighed in relief when she saw them covered.

Inuyasha crossed his arms stubbornly. "I'm stayin'."

In one bound he was up in branches of the tree near her first period class. Kagome grinned. It didn't look like it was his first time up in that tree. She wondered if it was coincidence that he just happened to be right by her classroom window. But she doubted it. Not much with the hanyou was coincidence, no matter what he says.

Suddenly feeling a little happier, Kagome skipped up the stairs towards the entrance with her note from her mother in hand. The good thing about being tardy was that she didn't have to worry about being surrounded by her friends. She liked them, she really did, but sometimes they drove her crazy. Besides, Inuyasha was with her today, and he was always difficult to explain.

After a quick stop to the office for her late pass and then to her locker, Kagome opened her first period door. The teacher looked disapprovingly at her for the disruption. When the teacher read the note she scolded the girl. This turned out to be a bigger disruption when some of the students began yelling about a wild animal growling outside the window. The teacher became alarmed when the sound increased as she leaned too close to Kagome, who was trying her best not to hear the noise.

"Heh… probably just a cat or something…" she said as she hurried to her seat with Mikomi in tow.

"If by cat you mean panther or cougar," whispered Eri.

"Sounded more like a wolf."

Kagome cringed at Hojo's poor choice of animal comparison. Also the colorful swearing and the tearing of tree branches did little to conceal Inuyasha's hiding spot. It was going to be a very long day.

"Hey Kagome," said Yuka as the teacher decided to go to the office to report wild animals outside of her second story classroom window. "We're going to WacDonald's for lunch. Come with us."

"I thought we weren't allowed to go off campus for lunch."

Eri grinned. "They changed that rule for seniors."

"Really?"

"Sure."

Kagome was skeptical, considering none of her friends would quite meet her eye. "Well, I guess so." She cleared throat and said a bit louder, "I WOULD LOVE TO GO TO WACDONALDS WITH YOU FOR LUNCH. I HOPE I BROUGHT ENOUGH MONEY TO EAT THERE THOUGH."

Her friends looked at her funny. She smiled happily to herself, however, when the branches stilled and the swearing went silent.

"I bet it because of her _Acute Otitis Media _problem last week," said Hojo.

"My baby cousin has that. I thought that was something only little kids got."

Hojo shrugged at Ayumi's response. "Higurashi's poor immune system seems to leave her susceptible to ailments of all types. Remember the rheumatism she was plagued with for so long in middle school?"

Of course, when the maintenance man and the principal went outside to check for wild animals outside of the classroom windows there wasn't one to be found. The teacher swore that there was growling and snarling out there. When asked to recount their tale of the sounds out the window, the class was unusually silent.

"They heard it too," she insisted to the principal.

"Miss Higurashi, did you hear animal sounds outside the window?" he asked.

"Um… animal sounds?"

One by one the students were quizzed, but oddly enough, not one of them seemed to recall any animal sounds. They were the picture of innocence during the inquisition, though when the principal finally left they were all smiles. The teacher mumbled something about devil children before she wrote the assignment on the board.

"That was mean," chuckled Eri. "But totally worth it."

Kagome looked down at the doubled assignment that the teacher gave. "I don't know about that. There's no way I can get all this done and turned in on time. And she doesn't believe in extra credit."

It was almost as if the teacher's retribution had spread throughout campus considering that all of Kagome's teachers seemed to be giving out twice as much homework as usual.

Eventually, however, lunchtime came. Relieved that the day was half over, Kagome took Mikomi and went off to join her friends. Luckily their favorite restaurant was close to campus. It was no surprise to see a silver haired half demon leaning against the side of the building near the entrance.

"Took you long enough," he grumbled.

"How did he know we were going to be here?" asked Eri.

"Cell phone?"

"Kagome doesn't have a cell, Ayumi."

"What's HE doing here?" Inuyasha growled at the boy who was walking entirely too close to Kagome.

"Eating lunch, Inuyasha. Be good." Kagome gave him a stern warning look as she walked through the door way and led the way to the line to order their food. It was a look that promised using his least favorite word. Multiple times.

Ignoring the warning, Inuyasha quickly took his place beside her and handed her the money clutched tightly in his fist. "You're mom said this would be enough."

Once again they were all sitting together eating an artery clogging amount of hamburgers and fries. Inuyasha wondered how often he would be forced to eat with them. The girls were bad enough with all of their personal questions, but the boy was almost too much to bear. Kagome wouldn't let her kill him, or even threaten him! Not even a little! It made being at the same table excruciatingly painful. Especially when he kept throwing Kagome those love sick eyes.

"I'm so glad to have this assignment finished!" chirped Yuka between gulps of her chocolate shake. "I can't wait to turn in this stupid doll and get life back to normal." Kagome was strangely silent when the others voiced their agreement.

In fact, she stayed mostly silent through the rest of her meal, occasionally glancing down at the doll she still had in Inuyasha's makeshift baby holder. Luckily her friends were more than willing to fill the gap of silence. Under the table Inuyasha would nudge Kagome's knee with his own to get her attention. He would ask her if she was okay with his eyes, and she would give a little smile to tell him she was okay. No one seemed to notice the silent conversation. Well, maybe Hojo did. He would attempt to bring her into whatever they were talking about. But after a brief comment, Kagome would go back to silence.

"Yikes!" cried Eri. "We only have five minutes until the bell. We better get going."

Quickly the group cleared their table and hurried out the door. The girls began to run, but Hojo took hold of Kagome's elbow. Which was promptly removed by a very angry young man with molten eyes of gold.

"Keep your hands off her."

"Inuyasha!"

"I wanted to talk to Higurashi away from the others for a moment." Hojo waited patiently before adding the word "alone".

Big mistake on his part really. But how was he to know that the strange friend of Kagome's had such a jealous streak? Eventually he had to settle for inquiring after Kagome's health around the tall red clad body. He had been concerned that she had been unusually quiet during lunch. Kagome may have missed the accusation in his eyes when he looked at Inuyasha, but the dog demon sure didn't.

"She's fine."

"Perhaps Higurashi should answer."

Kagome's mouth dropped open. Surely Hojo wasn't challenging Inuyasha. That would just be... well... suicidal. But there it was, in his voice. A challenge. Only one way to save her schoolmate's life...

"Eek! We're late! We have to run!" She tried to sound panicked. Luckily it got the desired effect and the boy took off at a run.

The chuckle died on her lips when Inuyasha glared down at her.

"What?"

Inuyasha didn't answer, he just glared at the running boy.

"WHAT?" she demanded.

"You never choose my side."

"What?"

"You never choose my side," he looked down at her with a hurt expression. "You always choose their side."

Kagome laughed. "Don't be ridiculous, Inuyasha. I am always on your side." She began walking to class, aware that she was going to have to make another trip to the office for a late pass. After a couple of steps she turned back to Inuyasha and gave him a brilliant heart stopping smile.

"Always."

Once Inuyasha's center of balance was restored he sped towards the school to find a tree near her next class.

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DAY CARE KEY? You mean I could have been getting up to eight hours of peace and quiet a day with one twist of a stupid key and YOU DIDN'T TELL US? I could have slept! I could have done my homework! I could have had a nice long bath! I could have SLEPT THROUGH FREAKING THE NIGHT! 

I didn't realize anyone could be that evil.

Right now I'm not sure what I think about the assignment. All I know is that it actually made my heart ache when I turned Mikomi in. Seeing her tossed into a box didn't do my heart any good either. Kinda harsh wasn't it? After all, most of us have grown attached to the dolls. I'm not saying that she HAD to be placed in gossamer blankets in a gilded crib or anything, but just tossing her into a big cardboard box was kind of heartless wasn't it?

I'm sorry about what happened to your desk. And the tree. And your car. But really, none of us heard any noises that could have possibly been from any sort of wild animal. My first period teacher thought she heard one too. Maybe you guys are just under too much stress lately. 

When grading our assignment, please keep in mind that journals entries are made by sleep deprived teenagers. I'm sure I would have been more polite if I had been able to get more than four hours of sleep all month.

Kagome Higurashi

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Author's Note:

Let me start off by saying that I apologize for my poor grammar. It's not my strong suit. I've been trying to get better though. One of these days I'll go through the entire story again and try to fix everything. But I've been taking your suggestions and comments very seriously and have been trying to fix things as I go along.

WARNING:

Next episode contains a bit of fluff.


	19. A Promise in Silence

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Nineteen: A Promise in Silence

In Conclusion:

It's so quiet without Mikomi around. I didn't get any sleep last night because I kept thinking that I could hear her crying. Please tell me this is temporary. I'd like to be able to sleep through the night again one day. 

I have to wonder how bad it is for my mental health to always be concerned that I may be insane. Is that a sign of insanity?

I actually learned a lot with this assignment. I learned that it's very difficult to balance school and babies. I learned that it is possible to survive on a half hour of sleep a week, though I wouldn't recommend trying it. I learned that I can change a diaper while shooting an arrow through a demon's skull. Ha! Caught you on that one. But I seriously did learn to multi-task a little better. Though it probably isn't a good idea to do it for long periods of time. I learned that I can count on my friends and family no matter how crazy I become thanks to extreme sleep depravation.

I also learned that I really do want a baby of my own. I'm sure the lack of sleep will be worth it. But I also learned that as much as I want a baby, I don't want one just yet. I'd like to wait a few more years.

Kagome Higurashi

P.S. When we have another population explosion, I plan on letting it be known it is all your fault.

Kagome smiled down at her paper. It probably wasn't her best paper she had ever written on any assignment, but it had been her best work as a project. She set the notebook aside and gathered up the rest of the materials that she would be turning in the next day. Her scrapbook lay at the bottom. She lay her hand on top, remembering the activities of the past month. Remembering what it felt like almost being a mother.

Inuyasha frowned as his nose twitched. It was far too familiar of a smell for him. _Why was she crying?_

"Oi, wench, why are you cryin?"

"I'm…" sniffle "Going to miss Mikomi." To be truthful, it wasn't so much the doll that she was going to miss, it was the feeling of family. Her own family. The doll had seemed to tie Inuyasha to her in some inexplicable way. And now it was gone.

"It was just a toy, wench." He cringed, fully expecting to come crashing down from his branch above Kagome.

"I know."

Watching as she opened the scrapbook, Inuyasha sat up straight. He reached into the next of his fire rat robe, clutching his prize in his fist. Maybe now was the right time. Maybe not… but it felt right… so he took a deep breath.

He thought of his list of reasons of why she should accept him as her mate. He thought of the speech had given to her mother to prove he was worthy. He knew he had lots of very good reasons, reasons she couldn't possibly say no to, but sitting there… actually facing her (sort of)… none of it seemed to be the right thing to say.

"You graduate soon." It wasn't the opening line he had planned on. Unfortunately it popped out of his mouth before he could stop it.

"Uh… yes… I do. In two months."

"In sixty one days."

Kagome was speechless, so she nodded. _He counted the days?_

"Your mom said you didn't have to go to college. She said you would be an adult and could make your own decisions. She said you don't have…"

Kagome blinked in surprise as she looked up at him. He was fidgeting. Inuyasha never fidgets. "What kind of discussions have you been having with my mother, Inuyasha?"

The hanyou turned red and began to sputter. Several times it looked like he might say something, but ended up growling and swearing instead. Kagome was getting a little worried about him. He was just acting too weird for words.

Thud.

"Did you just throw something at me?" Kagome cried indignantly.

She looked down at the scrapbook where the object fell, intent on throwing whatever it was back at the infuriating dog demon. His behavior was getting stranger by the moment! Her fingers reached down to pick the projectile up and froze. There was no breath left in her body.

It was a ring.

"Inuyasha…" Gingerly she picked up the ring. It was silver with diamonds inlaid in the band. It was an anniversary band, she had seen them before in jewelry stores.

"It's not silver," he said as if reading her mind. "It's white gold. Gold is supposed to symbolize purity because of the process of making it, you know, how they melt it and all the impurities rise to the top and get skimmed off." He cleared his throat self -consciously. "The guy at the place that sells that stuff said gold is traditional, but that the melding of two metals makes the ring stronger since yellow gold is so soft." He jumped down from the tree and put the ring in the palm of her hand.

She saw the hesitation in his eyes. The mixing of metals was important to him. "The one _they_ thought I should get you had one big stone on it. They said it was traditional too, but it was too dangerous. It could cut you. In a fight it would just get in the way, so I picked this one. It still has the diamonds. More of them… see?"

"It's… beautiful…"

He visibly relaxed and let out a breath. "Much better than that other one. It won't snag on anything. You won't have any problems wearing it while using your bow. The surface is smooth. I told them you like it." He paused for a moment before looking at her with eyes that bordered on anxious. "You do like it, don't you?"

"Yes." She wasn't sure how she got the word out considering her lungs didn't seem to be working.. "I love it."

"Keh, I was right."

He watched her intently. She struggled to breathe and to swallow. She prayed she wasn't reading the signals wrong. But this was Inuyasha, so anything was possible. What if he didn't understand? What if one of the others tricked him into it.

"I think you're supposed to put it on your right hand." He waited, but she didn't move her fingers. His chest began to hurt. _She's not taking it. She doesn't want me._ He flexed his claws in the grass and tried to recall his list of reasons why she should accept him. Though it was difficult to remember it with his heart being torn out of his chest. _She won't even look at me!_

"Inuyasha…" She took a deep breath without taking her eyes off the ring. "Do you know what this is?"

"The ring?"

Kagome nodded, unable to risk looking up at his face. She was terrified of hoping. She was terrified of making a fool of herself, or worse, running him off, because she thought he meant something that he didn't really mean.

"It's a promise."

Blinking back tears, she finally looked up at him. He looked so sincere. And he was still watching her with those unwavering eyes. She bit her lip to try to keep the trembling under control as he took the ring from her hand. Sitting in front of her he took her right hand, placing the ring at the tip of her fourth finger.

"They say it's this finger because the vein goes directly to your heart."

He dropped his gaze from her eyes to her finger, unsure if he should proceed. Was her hand always this small? So fragile? _Why do humans have to be so fragile?_ But he would protect her for as long as he lived, regardless of if she became his mate or not. He had to. His instincts demanded it. But oh how he wanted this. He wanted her to want him too. He needed it.

"Do… do you know what it promises?" Her voice was raw and raspy. It felt like she had swallowed a glass of sand. If it wasn't for his exceptional hearing she doubted that he would have even heard her. And her hand was trembling! She was embarrassed to notice that it was sweating a little too.

Her heart nearly stopped at the answering smirk. _He does know._ He looked down at the ring, then back up to her, asking for permission. She nodded, this time watching him instead of the ring. She felt it slowly slide across her skin.

"I promise to always protect you, Kagome. I promise that you will always have food and shelter. I promise to always put your needs and desires above everyone else's. I promise that I will always be by your side, that you will never have to fear anything for as long as I live. Ever. I promise that you will be the only one for me until the day I die. I promise to be the best mate to you that I can possibly be. I promise to be a good father to our pups." He took a deep breath. "I can't promise that I won't make mistakes or that we won't fight, but I do promise that no one could ever try harder than I will."

The ring was a perfect fit. Somehow she knew it would be.

"Oi wench! You're not supposed to cry!" He was horrified to see the tears streaking down her face.. He had messed up after all. _I should have asked Miroku for help. He knows the right way to say these things!_

At least that's what he thought up until Kagome launched herself at him, knocking him to the ground, pages of her homework assignment scattering unnoticed. When her lips met his, Inuyasha thought that his heart just might explode. Once the shock wore off, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. The moment he felt Kagome's lips he knew that he had never been kissed before, not really. Not like this. Her lips were soft, and they moved achingly gentle over his. His brain and his body felt like they were going into sensation overload.

_Was it possible to die of happiness?_ He hoped not. He wanted this feeling to last forever. And best of all, he knew that he would never be alone again. Kagome would always be with him. _She's mine._ _She's really mine._

Suddenly the girl in his arms began squealing with joy, pulling her lips away from his, and hugged him tighter. She turned in his arms and looked at the ring on her hand. Inuyasha took the opportunity to close his eyes and breathe in her scent. Reminding himself that she was now his, or would be soon at any rate, he allowed himself to lean in closer enough for his nose to almost brush against her skin. Kagome giggled when she felt his warm breath on her neck.

"Your mom said I'm supposed to give you another ring at a ceremony. She said you human wenches want those fancy ceremonies."

Kagome turned her head up to her hanyou and laughed gently. "I don't need a fancy ceremony, Inuyasha."

"Yes you do."

"Mmm… no, I really don't." The diamonds sparkled with oranges and reds in the light of the sunset. They were like fire.

Inuyasha sighed and leaned in a little closer so that his lips skimmed her shoulder. "Your mom says we can have the ceremony after you graduate high school."

Kagome's brain stopped working, barely registering the words.

"In sixty one days…" Inuyasha lifted his head, much to the miko's dismay. "Your brother says that the ceremony is to make promises in front of witnesses."

"We only need two witnesses, Inuyassha." She leaned back into his arms and laid her head back, savoring the warmth.

"All your friends and family and the males in your time would see that you are taken and belong to me. We should have a ceremony here. When it is over we'll go have a ceremony in my time. We'll invite everyone… even that stinking wolf if you want."

Ah, now she was beginning to see why he wanted the ceremony.

He smirked, she could feel it. "Your grandpa says you'll be promising to love, honor, and obey."

"Oh he did, did he?" Her grandpa too? Her entire family knew? "Obey?"

"Yeah."

"I think I'll be writing my own promises, thank you very much."

His ears drooped. "You can do that?"

She grinned up at him. "Yeah." Once again she studied her ring. "It really is beautiful. How did you get it? I mean…" Of course it's bad form to ask where a guy got the money to buy you a ring, but considering the guy, she just had to ask.

"I bring things to your mom sometimes, and she sells them. But the money is mine." Kagome raised an eyebrow at his sudden possessiveness over money. He, naturally, noticed. "I didn't take money from your family for the ring," he explained. "It's mine. Ours. I earned it." He cringed slightly over his stumbling. Not the best description he could have made on showing he was a good provider.

Scowling, he decided to try explaining himself a little better. But Kagome was quicker. She reached up to kiss him on the nose, thanked him, and told him he that he was absolutely brilliant.

"'Bout time you noticed, wench."

They sat together under the tree until nightfall. When the first star peeked out Kagome had to smile. She didn't have to make a wish on the first star of the night. Her wish was already granted.

When it got too late Kagome's mother flickered the lights. Taking the hint, they gathered up the pieces of her assignment and quickly put them together in a large binder so that they could go back inside. Then with one last brief kiss, Inuyasha deposited his mate-to-be in her bedroom and he leapt to his spot in the tree where he could watch over her.

Kagome let out a joyous laugh and spun around happily before dropping to her bed to look at her ring. It really was beautiful. Better yet, he had really thought about what kind to get her. Even when choosing an engagement ring Inuyasha was looking out for her safety. Kagome couldn't wait to tell Sango when they returned to the past after school the next day.

_He loves me! He wants to marry me! He loves me! I can't believe he really loves me! _Sleep was going to be impossible, so Kagome settled for basking in happiness instead. Just as she was snuggling down into the covers, a thought struck her.

"Inuyasha, you rat," she grumbled as she punched her pillow.

Somehow he had managed a proposal and a declaration of love (sort of) without technically asking her to marry him or actually saying the words'I love you"' to her. _The rat!_ Throwing back her covers she stormed over to her bedroom window and ripped open the curtains. It was surprising that the glass didn't shatter with the force that she opened it up with.

"INUYASHA!" Wishing that she had as good of night vision as the hanyou she glared into the night. "You better promise to LOVE me in BOTH ceremonies!" The dire threat of S-I-T was understood by the tone of voice.

Before she slammed the window shut she could have sworn that she heard a chuckle.

ooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOooOOoo

Author's Note:

Thank you so much for nominating this story to the Inuyasha Fanfiction Guild. It means a lot to me. You guys are great! You should have heard me squeal.

One last chapter to go and then the teacher's response. So I guess technically that it two more chapters. There will be at least one additional chapter about "The Talk" about you know what that will be a one shot, and possibly a one shot of Inuyasha's asking Kagome's mom to take Kagome as his mate. Since those will be able to be read as free standing stories, they won't be added as chapters to this story.

Thanks again for all your wonderful reviews!


	20. New Addition

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Twenty: New Addition

"AAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"

The scream pierced the air. It was so full of pain and anguish that Inuyasha actually cringed. The screaming had been going on for hours. But, as bad as the screams were, the sobbing was even worse. All he wanted to do was run far away from those sounds, but he stood firm. He would suffer with her, it was the least he could do.

Soon another voice joined in the wailing. Higher pitched and angry.

"Do you think we can go in now?" asked Shippo in a hushed whisper.

Miroku shook his head. "No. We wait until we are called for."

Inuyasha still wanted to run. After the countless threats of dismemberment and impossible tortures that she had promised during the worst of the pain, the hanyou wasn't sure any male was safe in the same room with her. He was perfectly content to wait outside. Far FAR out of her reach. Briefly he wondered if they had taken all of the potential weapons out of the room.

When Kaede finally appeared at the door, Inuyasha steeled himself. He wasn't quite prepared for this, regardless of the fact that this moment had practically been the ONLY topic of conversation for the past several months. He had been kinda hoping that they would be asked to leave and come back the next day… week… heck, next year sounded pretty good actually.

"There has been more blood loss than we had anticipated," Kaede told them solemnly as she wiped her hands. Was that blood on her shirt? She smiled encouragingly at them, probably concerned one (or all) were going to faint. "But she is strong and will recover. You may visit, but only one at a time, please. She is still weak."

Miroku went in first. It was difficult keeping the over anxious Shippo from going in with him. But if Kaede said only one at a time, then Inuyasha would enforce it.

The hanyou took a deep breath, and nearly choked. Kaede had not been exaggerating. There had been quite a bit of blood spilled inside of the tent. His ears drooped when he thought of the pain she must be in. How could a woman afford to lose all that blood and still live? All of a sudden he realized just how dangerous this could be, and he was afraid. The human body was so fragile. He looked down at his claws. _Too fragile._

After quite some time, Miroku emerged from the hut, discretely wiping tears from his face with his sleeve. Instead of his usual cheerful banter, he simply sat on the ground and leaned against the hut with his face in his hands. He might have been laughing or crying, it was difficult to tell. Although he was certain that he should be going over there to talk or offer comfort or something, Inuyasha found that he couldn't move an inch. Shippo took his lack of action to mean that he got to go in next.

The kit's visit was not as long as the monk's had been. Likely because he was a bit too energetic. He didn't seem to mind that his visit was short though. When he burst from the hut he was a bundle of energy and squeals. Inuyasha peeled him off of his head and threw him at Miroku. Let the kit talk to the monk.

He was next.

Yup.

Right through that door.

She was waiting for him.

Now… if he could only move his feet…

"Inuyasha?"

The dog demon sighed. Now that SHE called him, he knew he would be going in. It was tough to deny her anything that she wanted. When did that happen anyhow? And why didn't he run when he had the chance?

Never had he been as nervous as when he stepped through the gaping black hole of the entrance. Gulp. Automatically his eyes searched for Kagome. He was relieved when he saw her sitting near the fire. Not quite so relieved when he saw the two tiny crying bundles she was holding.

"This is Suki." She smiled at one baby, then glanced over at Kaede who was holding a similar wriggling bundle . "And the one over there is Yuki."

Two?

Two babies?

Inuyasha tried to smile. But he worried his fangs would scare the babies. He kept his claws hidden beneath the sleeves of his robe.

His heart did a funny lurch when she started cooing to the baby she was holding. She spoke so softly and lovingly that it actually ached inside. It… she…they… were so tiny. So impossibly fragile. _How do babies ever manage to grow up to be adults?_

"Do you want to hold one of them?"

"NO!" He shrank back in horror.

He couldn't touch it. His hands were meant to rip and destroy, not hold extremely breakable babies. Breaths came more rapidly until he was pretty certain he would hyperventilate. Mikomi had made it seem like he could be a father, but actually seeing a real live baby suddenly made him panic. He wouldn't have been surprised if his heart had literally jumped out of his chest.

Kagome rolled her eyes and stood up. She took a step towards to hanyou. But for every step forward she took, he took one step back. At least until his back hit the side of the hut. He ignored Kaede's chuckling.

With a sigh, Kagome took his hand. He breathed a sigh of relief. For a second there he thought that she was going to make him actually hold the thing.

"Have a seat," she told him as she gently pushed him towards where she had been sitting. She leaned in closely and whispered. "Close your eyes." Obediently he complied while trying to beat back a smile that was threatening to come out. That whisper voice she sometimes used never failed to befuddle him enough to obey. It was way more powerful than any 'sit' spell. He could feel her leaning in closer, running a hand up his arm…

…and putting a baby in it.

Golden eyes flew open in a panic! He was holding a baby. In his arms. Inches away from his deadly claws. A baby.

"Take it away," he pleaded, afraid to move in case he dropped the bundle.

"I think that SHE is just fine where she's at."

"Please…"

As soon as Kagome took the baby out of his arms, albeit reluctantly, he flew to the other side of the hut.

"You tricked me!" he accused her with a pointing finger.

"No I didn't. Well… not exactly." She shrugged. "Oh okay, so what if I did. It won't kill you to hold the baby."

Suki gave a little whimper, and Kagome began to gently rock her. The sight was almost heart breaking. Inuyasha stood silently, watching them. She was going to be very angry with him in a couple of minutes, and Inuyasha wanted to remember this one peaceful moment before she sat him six feet under. He was just glad that there wasn't such a thing as 'divorce' between mates. He hoped she didn't kill him for this though.

"You aren't having any babies, Kagome."

The young woman turned her attention to the hanyou with the ears plastered flat against his head. Kaede quickly came over to take Suki from Kagome's arms with an excuse the baby needing more cleaning and bathing.

"What?"

"No babies." Inuyasha crossed his arms and looked away. "It almost killed Sango. And now she hates Miroku. You aren't having one."

He tensed up when he felt Kagome coming closer to him. He felt her stop right in front of him. And he definitely felt it when she grabbed a couple locks of hair and pulled his head down to hers. Stubbornly he refused to open his eyes. Keh, he didn't care if anyone thought it was childish. And he wasn't a coward. And it had nothing to do with the little pains he felt in his chest when Kagome looked disappointed. Especially if it might be HIM who was doing the disappointing.

"I will never hate you, Inuyasha." She reached up and kissed his chin, causing him to open his eyes after all. "And Sango doesn't hate Miroku. She isn't going to kill him, either. So don't worry. Women sometimes say things they don't really mean while giving birth."

Inuyasha looked at Sango lying on the pallet. She looked tired. Pale. Completely worn out. He looked back at Kagome mournfully.

"It's too dangerous. I won't let you do it." He didn't care if there was a whine to his voice.

"Inuyasha…"

"Women die in childbirth all the time. You saw how much blood Sango lost."

"Inuyasha…"

He took hold of her arms. "I won't lose you, Kagome. I won't!" Then he pulled her close, swallowing her in his embrace. "I can't."

He felt Kagome sigh heavily. He sighed too, since it wasn't her sigh that said she was giving up. It was the sigh she uses before a big battle. Tightening his grip he willed her to understand that he couldn't bear risk her life like that. He couldn't willingly put her through such pain. He couldn't take the chance that she would grow to hate him. He had to make her see that this whole baby thing was a really really REALLY bad idea.

"What if our baby has claws? What if when you give birth it tears you up? It could kill you! What if you get an infection or lose too much blood? What if…"

"Inuyasha, stop." She put her finger against his lips. "Yes, those things could happen. But we will take precautions. If you want to, we can have the baby in my time. There are hospitals that will make it much safer. If I lose blood they have enough to supply me with more. They can even make it so that it doesn't hurt so much."

Inuyasha glared at her. "What if it is a hanyou? What if it has ears and claws? What will your hospitals do then? I've seen those pictures on your television where they take them away and use them for experiments!"

"We will figure out what to do. If any scans show anything… unique with our baby, then we will come back here and I'll have it here. And no more science fiction movies for you, mister. Souta is a bad influence on you." Kagome rested her head on his chest and smiled dreamily. "Just think, Inuyasha. A baby. Our baby. Something that is a part of you and a part of me. Something that we created."

He closed his eyes. Totally without his permission, visions of Kagome holding THEIR baby flashed through his head. A little girl with her hair… and his ears. A little boy with silver hair to help protect Kagome when he got older. Their family. He held her closer.

"I'm scared," he admitted quietly.

With a grin, Kagome patted his arm. "That's okay, Inuyasha. I am a little scared too." Her grin widened and she patted her stomach. "At least we have nine months to get used to the idea."

….

Nine months?

…

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed suspiciously as his mate rubbed her belly and smiled at him while batting her eyes. His vision swam as the implications sunk in.

NINE MONTHS?

Laughter filled the sudden darkness. Why was he on the floor? When had he fallen asleep? He heard talking from somewhere far away.

"Lady Kagome, that was a cruel joke to play on the poor man."

"I couldn't help it, Kaede." She snickered. "It was funny though, wasn't it?"

Inuyasha growled.

"It might be wise to run, child." The elderly miko held open the door covering for the giggling younger miko to race through.

"KAGOOOOMEEEEEEE!"

Kaede shook her head when the hanyou ran past her in a blur of red and silver. She turned her attention back to the highly amused demon slayer who was feeding one daughter while snuggling the other.

"I am certain that Miroku has now recovered from the shock of becoming a father, I will send him in."

"Thank you, lady Kaede." Sango lightly touched her baby's face and gave her a kiss, then kissed the head of the other. "Welcome to the family, little ones."

Kaede looked outside, watching Inuyasha chase Kagome into the woods. His anger had all been just for show, just as she suspected. The dog demon was almost… playful. The miko smiled. They deserved happiness.

Perhaps it would only be nine months after all.

Author's Note: One more chapter to go! We'll finally see what the teacher had to say about the project.

Author's Note Part II: Yes, I came back and edited this just a bit to fit a little bit more in line with the sequel AND to fix some of the grammatical errors. With luck I can go back and change more chapters as I get time.


	21. Teacher's Response

Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Twenty-One: Teacher's Note

"We're doomed."

Inuyasha had the gall to snicker, earning him a heated glare from Kagome. She shoved him not so gently out of the way and entered the room with a warriors resolve. _We can do this. We can._

"Aw, who am I kidding? It's impossible!"

The hanyou moved towards the middle of the room. He looked around, studying the room and the contents with disdain.

"Let's just trash it all," he said decisively. "Then it we'll be done in time for lunch."

Kagome let out a shriek and threw herself protectively in front of the box he was reaching for.

"No!" She glared at him. "These are precious treasures!"

With a disbelieving look, Inuyasha reached into an open box and pulled out an old musty magazine. "This is a precious treasure?" He gave it a little shake and watched in disgust as yellowed and deteriorated particles began to fly.

"Oh okay, FINE. Some of it is junk, but most of it is important." She gave a little sniffle as she gestured to the room. "You can't just go throwing away all my stuff!" As her voice began to raise in volume and pitch, her eyes got misty. "These are parts of my life! Memories! Reminders of special moments in my life!"

Wrinkling his nose he eyed the magazine again. "Yeah?"

Angrily she grabbed the magazine from his hands and threw it towards the wall. "NOT THE MAGAZINE, you idiot!"

Inuyasha sighed heavily. "The book said you'd be moodier than usual."

Kagome let out a feral growl that actually made Inuyasha blink in surprise. He was going to make her kill him. She swore that if he mentioned THAT BOOK to her ONE MORE TIME then she would absolutely kill him. Her fists clenched and tried to control her temper before her body began glowing pink again. _He's driving me crazy._ She growled again. _No,_ she scolded herself, _he's just being concerned. _Then her eyes teared up again and she began to sniffle. _Here he is being sweet and I'm being…_ A few tears actually escaped and made their way down her cheeks. When she saw Inuyasha's horrified and completely panicked look, she began to laugh, lightening her mood considerably.

Stupid confusing hormones.

With a clap of her hands and a cheery smile she was ready to get back to work. She waved towards the wall where the magazine landed, completely ignoring her slightly irrational outburst. It was a valiant effort to keep from snickering as Inuyasha watched her warily. Her hanyou chose the silliest things to be afraid of.

"We'll start a trash pile over there. We can bag it up later. The boxes we're keeping put by the door and we'll get them moved downstairs so we can put them in storage." Giving him a hard look she couldn't help but remind him, "Make sure you let me see everything before you throw it away so that I can make sure it isn't trash. Don't just tear thing up and throw them away."

Inuyasha growled and sank to the floor, sitting cross-legged, in a snarky mood. "Wouldn't it be easier to just do it by yourself then?"

Irritation flashed in her eyes. Then she blinked and it was gone, replaced by a guileless gaze. Smiling sweetly, Kagome replied as she batted her eyes, "You're probably right, Inuyasha. Why don't you go have a snack or play with Souta or Buyo or something and I'll stay up here and sort through all these heavy boxes by myself."

His growl got louder as he swatted her hand away from a box she was attempting to move. He took it from her and put it where she was pointing. For the next hour he didn't speak a word to her, only glared occasionally as she told him what to keep and what to throw away. Her grandfather and brother had come through a few minutes ago to make sure that she wasn't throwing way THEIR treasures. She sulked at their comments and Inuyasha smirked.

Feeling a little sore from all the bending and sitting so still to sort through the boxes, Kagome stood and stretched, willing the aches to go away. The pile of trash had grown steadily. _Who knew that we kept so much junk? What are we? A bunch of pack rats?_ She wondered what in the world her family had been thinking when she opened a box of half rotted recipe clippings from newspapers. Making a mental note to buy her mom a cookbook, she picked up the whole box to walk it over to the trash pile.

That was her plan at least.

A plan quickly thwarted by an angry half demon.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" He yelled at her as he ripped the box away from her, throwing it to the other side of the room before grabbing her shoulders and glaring at her with his very best chastising glare. "ARE YOU INSANE OR JUST STUPID?" He really really REALLY wanted to shake her.

"Inuyasha…"

"The book says you can't lift heavy things." He growled, tightening his grip slightly. "Don't do it again."

Rolling her eyes she shrugged, knowing better than to argue with him when he was in one of THOSE moods. Over the past couple of weeks she learned that there was just no reasoning with him and definitely no contradicting The Book. "Fine, whatever, I'll just start bagging up the trash then."

It shouldn't have surprised her that when she absentmindedly rubbed a kink out of her back that it would cause the love of her life to fly into a panic. These days it seemed he was always in a panic.

"Are you hurt?" He scooped her up and sat on the floor settling her oh so gently in his lap. Methodically he began inspecting her for an injury.

"I'm fine, Inuyasha." She giggled when he hit a particularly ticklish spot.

After giving her another thorough inspection, he set her aside and stood up to leave.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked as she attempted to stand up. She would have stood had he not put his hands on her shoulders and gently forced her back on her rump.

"I'm just going to go check the book to see if back pain is normal."

It couldn't be helped, Kagome burst out into laughter. She half regretted that her mother had given him the stupid book. Not only did she give him the book so that he could study the pictures and graphs, but also the same book on tape so that he could obsessively listen to it. She grinned, as she thought of how serious he looked as he studied the book. Who knew that a book on mothers-to-be was also a tool to drive fathers-to-be insane with worry? Still, it was awfully cute.

"I'm only a few weeks pregnant, Inuyasha. I'm not an invalid."

He scoffed, obviously remembering the hours he spent holding her hair back as she threw up. Likely he also recalled the begging in the middle of the night for him to bring her the foods she craved. Sure he might complain when she would send him through the well, five hundred years into the past (or future, depending on when they were) for one thing or another, but he always went. He would deny it to his dying day, but he was being uncharacteristically sweet. Even his threats of death to all who were in her breathing space were kind of sweet.

"Besides," she said, "We really need to finish clearing out this room if we're going to use it for a nursery. Mom is probably already buying the furniture as we speak."

"Nah, she swore she'd wait for us. She's out buying more baby clothes." He looked around the room and cracked his knuckles, giving the boxes the same look he often gave demons right before he gutted them. "Time to get to work!"

Another hour flew by, and the pile to throw away was almost double the size of the boxes of stuff to keep. Over half of the room was just about empty. Inuyasha was enjoying himself with his new find. There were boxes and boxes of papers from that miserable torturous dangerous evil place that had kept Kagome from him for so long. He was about to toss yet another box of old homework assignments when something stopped him. So far he had taken great delight in destroying all evidence of her school as he threw it into the trash pile (she had given him full approval to dispose of old homework assignments as he saw fit, and the way he saw it they deserved a violent death), but this one caught his eye. He opened up the folder and smirked.

"What have you got there?" asked Kagome curiously as she dusted off her hands.

"Mikomi," he told

Kagome smiled and plucked the folder from his hands. She opened it up to see her journal, the scrapbook, and her teacher's response. After flipping through the scrapbook and journal, she read the note.

Kagome – 

Though I sympathize with your lack of sleep, I have to wonder why you did not use the Day Care option. One twist of the Day Care Key and you could have had six hours of free time for homework or sleep.

Oh, did I forget to mention the Day Care Key option when I handed out the dolls? It was, of course, a regrettable oversight. Though the option was mentioned in the instruction manuals that accompanied the dolls. Did your doll not come with one? How very strange that it did not. Another unfortunate oversight.

You have received a grade of C-. 

And as you know, any grade less than a B+ will keep you from graduating.

Your significant number of absences counted heavily against you. In no way do your implications that all teachers are involved in some diabolical conspiracy reflect in your grade. Really, Kagome, you have quite the imagination. I would be interested to find out who you may have discussed these theories with.

It must be quite frustrating and frightening to know that your entire future rests on a few grade points. To think that showing up to class just a few more times would mean the difference between graduating with your peers and going through one more year of school. Perhaps you will take this moment to question the things that are really important in your life. Think of it as a life lesson.

However, it is obvious that you spent a lot of time and thought on this project. You treated the project as it was intended, a taste of the future. Most of the other students did not get quite as emotionally involved as you appear to have. Your journal entries, however overly dramatic they may be, did indicate that you took the project seriously. For that and the extra work you put into it, I gave you extra credit.

I hope you learned some valuable lessons from this assignment. Something besides information on sleep deprivation. Although I appreciate the articles on the unfortunate side effects, both long term and short term, of sleep deprivation that you provided, I was unable to add them towards your final grade. I am sure that if you had put that much effort into all of your papers you would not be an emotional wreck as you try to figure out if you are going to be able graduate or not this year.

Please not the attachments. These are the names of three reputable psychologists who specialize in anger management, you may want to consider giving them a call.

Final Grade: A-

"You know, I think maybe I'll just keep this one after all." She tucked Mikomi's file into the box she had behind her where she was storing the things that were important to her.

Kagome smiled as she did what her teacher asked. She thought about the things that were really important in her life. And as it so happened, the two most important just happened to be in the room with her. She put her hand over her tummy and gave her mate her most brilliant smile. His eyes warmed as he put his hand over hers, leaning into her protectively.

"Keh."

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The End

…. and the Beginning of something new…

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Author's Note:

Thank you all for reading the story and for all your wonderful responses. I enjoyed writing it, and I think your reviews helped a lot to inspire. So thank you again!

The sequel to this story is called Inuyasha's Baby.


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